Victorian girl’s eye removed after cancer identified by change in pupil colour

A Victorian baby’s eye has been surgically removed after she was diagnosed with the same rare cancer her mother had as a toddler, prompting a warning to other parents.

Alex and Anthony Burridge were enjoying the excitement of their new addition, a little girl named Harper, when they noticed a slight change in the colour of her pupil in August.

A visit to their GP and emergency department followed before they were given an urgent referral to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Doctors confirmed a mass attached to the back of the then three-month-old Ballarat girl’s left eye and two days later told her mum: “Harper has the same eye cancer you had — retinoblastoma.”

The tumour was large and doctors had no alternative but to remove both it and the eye during surgery.

‘You’re petrified’

“It was really devastating — the uncertainty of what could be,” Alex, 32, told 7NEWS.com.au.

“You’re petrified because you associate cancer with death and destruction.”

Retinoblastoma is a rare form of eye cancer that affects the retina and is usually diagnosed before two years of age.

A common symptom is a cloudy white pupil that can appear silvery or yellow in bright light.

Other early signs include a larger than normal pupil, red irritation and poor vision.

Thankfully, the cancer was contained to just one of Harper’s eyes but she will undergo regular checks over the next five years to ensure no lesions appear in the other.

She is a happy and relaxed baby who sleeps well, is hitting all her milestones and has lost nothing of her personality as she recovers, her family says.

Her eye socket will be given time to heal before she is fitted with a prosthetic eye.

Burridge is a rehab nurse whose own eye was removed soon after she was diagnosed with eye cancer at age two.

She is intent on raising her little girl in a way “that ensures it never holds her back” and said it is nice to know she will be able to understand her daughter’s experience.

“This isn’t poor us. I was raised in a way that it was never seen as a problem,” Burridge said.

“I’ve still been able to do everything. It’s just who I was and who I will always be.

“We want to raise Harper in the same way. This won’t stop her from achieving everything she wants to achieve.”

Babies who have a parent with retinoblastoma should be screened soon after being born because some types are inheritable.

Burridge did not realise there could be a genetic component to the disease and wants other parents to know what she did not.

“Be aware that anything is possible. If you’ve had a history (of health problems), check it out during pregnancy,” she said.

Loved ones have launched a GoFundMe to help the family with expenses as Harper recovers.