Doctors battling to save Feering boy's eyesight (From Braintree and Witham Times)

Doctors battling to save Feering boy's eyesight

A MUM has described her heartache after her son was struck by a rare eye cancer.

Louise Baulch with her two-year-old son Felix, who has a rare form of eye cancer

Doctors are battling to save two-year-old Felix Baulch’s sight after he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma.

He has been undergoing chemotherapy and other treatment since he was four months old to remove three tumours in his left eye and two in his right eye.

Three weeks ago, his parents, Louise and Phil Baulch, were told the devastating news Felix had another tumour in the optic nerve of his right eye which could lead to him losing his sight.

Mrs Baulch, 38, of Inworth Road, Feering, said: “It amazes me how brave and happy he is, despite everything he has been through. He has just started pre-school.

“We brought him back from the hospital. One of his eyes was black with bruises and the other looked closed up and swollen but he woke up and was so excited about going – he is just getting on with his life.

“He doesn’t know he can’t see as much as the other children can.

“We are just waiting to see what the next step is. There are no easy options and every course of action has its complications.”

Mr and Mrs Baulch have appealed to parents to be aware of the rare eye cancer.

The couple, who also have a five-year-old son, Leo, are keen to raise awareness of the condition in the run-up to Retinoblastoma Awareness Week, which starts on Sunday.

They noticed Felix’s left eye appeared to be reflecting light when they were drying him after a bath as a newborn. Initially, they put it down to the bright lights in their bathroom.

They became concerned when they noticed he would not play with toys in front of him and would look towards the light coming in from the window.

A specialist consultant told them Felix had the rare condition, which affects about 40 children in the UK every year and at its worse can lead to surgeons having to remove the eyes.

Mrs Baulch said: “When he was first diagnosed, we felt like our whole world had caved in on us. I felt like it was a dream and I couldn’t believe it was happening to my child.

“When we look back at photographs, we could see he had a white reflection coming from his eyes but no one had picked up on it because it is so rare.”

A week later Felix was at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, undergoing a gruelling course of chemotherapy which removed the tumours.

The cancer left him with a detached retina and without detailed vision in both eyes. Last year he suffered another relapse in his left eye.

Thanks to a course of pioneering new treatment which tackles the cancer in the eye directly, his eye was saved.

But the appearance of another tumour has set Felix back.

n For more, about the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust visit www. chect.org.uk.