Baby monitor helps mom spot daughter’s rare cancer

By Ben Barry

A 3-year-old was diagnosed with a rare cancer after her mom noticed she had a "black eye" while checking the baby monitor.

Kristen Draime, 29, noticed that her daughter Miley's eye occasionally drifted but assumed it was a lazy eye.

She took Miley to the pediatrician, who referred Miley to an ophthalmologist, but the first available appointment was months away.

One evening in the fall of 2025, while bathing Miley, Kristen noticed an unusual white glow in her daughter's eye.

After putting Miley to bed, she began searching online and came across retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer.

As she read more, she learned some parents first notice signs of retinoblastoma when one eye reflects differently in low light, such as on a baby monitor.

Kristen immediately checked on Miley, who was still awake and saw that her left eye was completely black.

The next morning, Kristen and her husband, Andrew Draime, 38, immediately took Miley to a local pediatric emergency department.

There, Miley underwent an ultrasound and a thorough exam that revealed that her left eye was almost completely consumed by the tumor and would need to be removed.

Miley underwent an operation on November 21, 2025 at Cleveland Clinic Children's before undergoing six sessions of chemotherapy.

Kristen, a hospice social worker, from Cleveland, Ohio, said: "I was in shock.

"When I went deep diving into retinoblastoma, I found an article in the trenches about a mom seeing her daughter's eye was black on the monitor, and it was a tumor.

"After seeing 'the glow' meant retinoblastoma and seeing her eye black on the monitor, I felt a deep instinct that it was retinoblastoma for sure."

Kristen said that there were "no obvious signs" that there was something wrong with Miley's eye.

She said that Kristen's eye would "occasionally drift", but they had assumed it was a lazy eye.

Kristen said: "We'd go to dance class, and she'd walk across the balance beam just fine.

"She never complained, and because she was so young, she didn't have the words to explain what she was experiencing.

"Looking back, it's hard to think she was going through that without us knowing."

On November 8, 2025, while bathing Miley, Kristen noticed an unusual white glow in her eye.

She started googling and found information about retinoblastoma. Kristen immediately checked the baby monitor and noticed that her left eye was completely black while her right reflected normally.

"Her left eye just went wild," Kristen said.

"It didn't have anything to help focus it, with the healthy eye being covered. I could tell she couldn't see me. It was the most gut-wrenching feeling."

Kristen and Andrew immediately took Miley to a local pediatric emergency department. After evaluating her, the team contacted the ophthalmologist on call.

She said: "They called him in on a Sunday.

"I knew it wasn't good because they're not going to call a specialist in on a weekend if it's not something serious."

After an ultrasound and thorough examination, the ophthalmologist delivered devastating news that Miley's eye was almost completely consumed by the tumor and would need to be removed.

"It was one of the hardest things I've ever heard," Kristen said.

"The doctor who diagnosed her was not the one who did the final confirmation; she needed her eye removed and took the eye out.

"But he was educated enough to tell us that he was very sure, by the look of her eye, that it would need to be removed.

"Her care team told us to try to wait until they saw her themselves to tell us. I tried to hold onto hope because of what they said - but I was already sure."

The ophthalmologist referred the family to ocular oncologist Arun Singh, MD, at Cleveland Clinic's Cole Eye Institute.

At their appointment, Dr. Singh thoroughly examined Miley's eye under anesthesia. Kristen and Andrew knew there was a possibility he would recommend removing the eye while Miley was still sedated.

After examining Miley's eye, Dr. Singh confirmed with her parents that removing it was the best option.

Dr. Singh said: "Retinoblastoma has the highest cure rate of any childhood cancer.

"Removing the eye is the most common treatment because leaving it intact risks letting the cancer spread to the brain or elsewhere in the body."

The hour-long surgery took place on November 21, 2025.

Although the family had hoped surgery would be enough, a postoperative biopsy revealed chemotherapy would also be necessary because of the tumor's size and location.

Miley began treatment with Cleveland Clinic Children's pediatric hematologist-oncologist Stacey Zahler, DO, just before Christmas 2025 and completed her sixth and final session in May 2026.

In June, Miley rang the end-of-treatment Bravery Bell at Cleveland Clinic Children's, surrounded by cheering family members and caregivers.

Kristen said: "Being able to watch my daughter ring the bell after everything she went through was magical.

"I will never stop being thankful that I get to keep my daughter in this world. She lost her eye - cancer is so unfair - it took that from her. But she gets to be here. She gets to live a normal life."

Miley now has a permanent prosthetic eye, replacing the temporary one she had been given after surgery. The small plastic disc is cosmetic, but it also helps the eye socket maintain its shape. It can be removed for cleaning.

Kristen said: "You wouldn't know she'd had her eye removed.

"She does great navigating through life, and I can only occasionally tell she has one eye. It's mind-blowing how well she is doing."