Girl who lost eye to cancer gets new ‘superhero eye’

By Ben Barry via SWNS

An eight-year-old who had to have her eye removed due to cancer has replaced it with a pink sparkly prosthetic.

Daisy Passfield, eight, was diagnosed with a grade D tumor in her retina when she was 14 months old.

She had chemotherapy to shrink the tumor but unfortunately, after two months of the chemo ending, Daisy relapsed.

The tot had her right eye removed in a four-hour operation when she was two after a newer procedure which is meant to shrink the tumor broke it into different parts and the family didn't want it to spread.

And after years of having a blue prosthetic eye, she chose to have a pink sparkly prosthetic eye fitted this summer as she is a fan of glittery things.

Instead of sticking with a matching blue lens, the confident schoolgirl surprised her family and medics by asking to have a new eye in her favorite color - pink glitter.

Now she's proud to show off her "superhero" eye which pals say looks befitting of a unicorn or a dragon - much to Daisy's delight.

Daisy, from Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, England said: "I feel happy because everyone can see my pink sparkly eye.

"I am so excited to show everyone at school my sparkly eye.

"I think they will love it just like I do.

"Everyone I have spoken to has said how lovely it is.

"I have been told it looks like a superhero eye, a dragon's eye and a unicorn eye and I like all those things."

Daisy's mom, Alysia Passfield, 30, said it was tough trying to get a diagnosis for Daisy's condition.

Alysia said that she noticed there was something wrong with Daisy while looking at a picture of her.

She said: "I noticed from a photograph - she had a white glow in her eye and her eye had a glaze on it"

The most common symptoms are a white glow in eye or pupil in dim lighting or when a photo is taken using a flash, and a squint.

She was diagnosed with retinoblastoma - a rare and aggressive form of eye cancer that affects babies and young children, mainly under the age of six - in October 2015.

Alysia said she was "relieved" to finally have a diagnosis, and added: "I knew there was something wrong.

"Obviously I was upset and in a bit of a shock.

"Daisy was absolutely fine, she took it in her stride, and she has six rounds of chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumor."

Unfortunately, Daisy relapsed two months after her chemotherapy ended and started intra arterial chemotherapy - a newer procedure which is meant to shrink the tumor.

Intra arterial chemotherapy is a new method of delivering chemotherapy drugs directly to the eye rather than around the body.

Daisy was given a general anesthetic for the treatment, which involved passing a catheter through the femoral artery, all the way up until it is in the ophthalmic artery.

Once the catheter is in place the chemotherapy drug is administered via the tube and is able to work directly on the tumor/tumors in the eye.

Instead of shrinking the tumor, the treatment broke it into different parts.

Alysia said: "By September 2016, we made the decision to remove her eye, because the chemo that she had, had broken the tumor into different parts and we didn't want the tumor to spread."

The operation lasted around four hours and Alysia said she was on "autopilot" throughout.

After the operation, Daisy was given a blue eye matching her natural eye color.

Daisy got her new eye on July 28, 22.

Alysia said: "Daisy has always been into sparkly things, make-up and making herself look pretty.

"We went to our appointment, I said to the woman about Daisy having a different colored eye and they said they can do that."

Alysia said that Daisy has lives a "completely normal" life.

She said: "She is one of the most confident people I have ever met.

"The only thing she can't do is drive a combine harvester or fly a plane but I don't think we have to ever worry about that happening."

Daisy has an older sister called Immy Rose, 10, and brother Oakley, four.

Alysia said Immy was "very caring" and added: "She was one of the most helpful children when we went through it."

Reflecting on how Daisy's diagnosis affected her, Alysia said: "I don't really know - it was one of those things where you just have to get through.

"We were 23 at the time. We had to do what we had to do and we had to make sure she was ok."

Childhood Eye Cancer Trust says 50 cases are diagnosed a year in the UK - or one child a week.

It represents 3% of all childhood cancers and 10% of cancers in babies under the age of one in the UK.