Matilda’s story as told by mum Beth:
My daughter Matilda was just 10 months old when she was diagnosed with a rare cancer called Retinoblastoma.
I first realised something wasn’t right when I noticed a glow in her left eye when she was about 3 months old, then I noticed her eye starting to turn to the side.
I kept taking her to the doctors only to be told that everything was completely normal. But I knew that it wasn’t, it was weird because I never in a million years thought it could be cancer, I just felt something wasn’t right,
We had an appointment in Manchester in March 2020, just as Covid hit, and we were told Matilda had retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer that affects young children.
We were transferred to Ward 84 without any notice. We live in Preston and had nothing with us as we were not expecting to be admitted.
My mother-in-law had to drive all the way back to get us some belongings for our stay.
Then we were gifted a Milly Bag, which had absolutely everything we needed in it!
I was so grateful and cried when I was handed this. It was so thoughtful and really helped us throughout our cancer journey.
Matilda is now 4 years old and doing well. She still has her rainbow blanket as her comfort, and we cannot forget Ellie the elephant, who has also been her comfort throughout her journey and remains her comfort to this very day!
So many parents talk about doctor’s failings in diagnosing their children, education not only for parents but for our health care professionals is paramount, early diagnosis can mean better more positive outcomes for our children.
