Grace Gravil is speaking out after her daughter’s eye was removed following a warning sign she caught on a baby monitor.
The UK mother, whose one-year-old daughter Athena Ingledew is now undergoing chemotherapy, said she first noticed a slight glare in the baby’s eye while checking the monitor when the child was six months old. Gravil showed a photo to her health visitor but was told there was nothing to worry about, she said.
“She told me she wasn’t worried and didn’t really give me any advice about what to do next,” Gravil shared. “If she had told me to take her to a doctor, I feel like we might have caught it sooner.”
Months passed before Athena’s condition worsened dramatically. At the beginning of June, her eye grew noticeably larger and developed cloudiness, her mother recalled. Athena had always had one iris and pupil bigger than the other, but the change became impossible to ignore.
“I thought maybe she was just blind in that eye but it became really noticeable on one photo where you can see the cloudiness in her eye,” Gravil explained.
A visit to Scunthorpe Hospital raised the possibility of glaucoma, prompting referrals for further testing at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. There, doctors discovered a large tumor and diagnosed Athena with retinoblastoma, a cancer that begins as a growth of cells in the retina. Most children with this cancer are diagnosed before age two, and the prognosis is generally favorable, according to the Mayo Clinic.
However, Athena’s case had progressed to the most advanced group of the disease. Doctors found what they called “rogue cells” that could spread to her remaining eye, requiring treatment beyond what less severe cases typically need.
“Unfortunately, she had the most advanced group of the disease,” Gravil said. “In many cases, doctors can use laser treatment, freezing therapies or chemotherapy to shrink the tumour first. In her case, however, the only treatment option was to remove the eye.”
Athena underwent surgery to remove her eye on June 23 at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The challenges did not end in the operating room. After her prosthesis was fitted, it fell out, and the family had not been trained to reinsert it themselves.
“We hadn’t been trained on how to put it back in, so we had to travel all the way to Sheffield to have it refitted, only for it to come out again the next day,” Gravil said.
Transportation has become a persistent obstacle for the family. Neither Gravil nor her partner drives, making every medical appointment a logistical and financial burden.
“Because we don’t drive, every appointment means finding someone who can take us, which is difficult and expensive,” she noted. “That’s one of the reasons for the fundraiser.”
The family launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover travel costs, future treatments, a custom-made prosthetic eye, and other needs. Gravil said the money will help with whatever Athena requires going forward.
“She’s had four rounds of chemo so far,” Gravil said of her daughter’s current status. “We’ve got one more to go, and then we’ll have to wait and see whether doctors feel she needs any further treatment.”