Email Picture Saves Tot’s Life Posted on August 27th
7:25am UK, Wednesday August 27, 2008
Tom Parmenter,
North of England correspondent
Doctors believe a mother in Britain helped diagnose an American baby’s tumour after receiving a picture of her by email.
Madeline spotted the problem from the photo
Madeline Robb, from Stretford in Manchester, noticed a strange white shadow in the eye of one-year-old Rowan Santos.
Alarmed by the image she researched the topic online and found it could be related to a type of eye cancer called Retinoblastoma.
Madeline, 32, who has no medical training, then got back in touch with Rowan’s parents in Florida to tell them they should get it checked out.
Doctors in the States soon diagnosed a tumour in Rowan’s eye and she is now undergoing treatment.
It’s unlikely medics will be unable to save Rowan’s eye but without the early diagnosis it could have been much more serious.
Madeline told Sky News Online: “It’s important for parents to be aware of the dangers, I don’t think I did anything special but of course Rowan’s family are very grateful.”
The trans-Atlantic friendship started in an internet chat room when both mothers were pregnant; coincidentally they gave birth on exactly the same day in August 2007.
Since then the families have regularly emailed pictures to each other as their daughters were growing up.
Rowan’s mother had only noticed a slight discolouring in her daughter’s eye before the alert and had not taken it seriously.
The tumour only showed up so vividly in the photograph because of the flash on the camera.
Madeline, a Canadian who moved to Britain seven years ago added: “Once the surgery and chemotherapy are out of the way we hope to meet up, probably over in the States – it would be great to get together after all this.”