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The photo that saved this Aussie boy’s life

When mum Akshata Rao noticed a ‘white glow’ in a photo of her son, she may have just saved his life.

Akshata first spotted the discolouration in her son Aayaan’s right eye when he was just over a year old, after looking at a photo taken using flash photography.

The glow wasn’t visible when looking at the little boy, now six, in person, so his mum took him to see doctors immediately. But Akshata says she was initially told there was nothing to worry about.

The photo that saved Aayaan's life. Photo: Supplied
The photo that saved Aayaan's life. Photo: Supplied

“Then every time we took a picture with the camera’s flash we would see the white glow like a cat’s eye,” Akshata, from Darwin, says.

The mum kept persisting, checking in with the doctors constantly, but was continuously told it was ‘probably just nothing’ or ‘would go away’.

“But I still felt something was wrong,” she told News.com.au.

Finally, in 2013, while on a family holiday to India, they saw an eye specialist who straight away said something was wrong.

Further tests revealed that Aayaan had retinoblastoma - a form of eye cancer which affects children under five years of age.

The tumour had been growing on his retina, which had become detached from his right eyeball, and was getting very close to his optic nerve connecting to his brain.

Aayaan is now six and living cancer-free. Photo: Supplied
Aayaan is now six and living cancer-free. Photo: Supplied

After weighing up different options, Aayaan has surgery in Bangalore to have his right eye completely removed. He then went on to have chemotherapy before being given the all clear.

“It would have been life threatening if left undiagnosed. We wanted to take no chances,” his mum says.

Aayaan is now in Year 1 and school and cancer-free. His mum says he has adapted well to life with one eye.

“We were so lucky that we noticed the white reflection in his photos,” she says.

“I’m very scared to think of what might have happened if we didn’t.”

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