Colton T.
Tennessee
Birth Date - September 23, 2014
Diagnosis - Retinoblastoma
Theme: Favorite Things
Realistic Horses & Dinosaurs,
Power Rangers
Due Date: 9/1/18
Colton's Story
I remember seeing an article about a child with "The Glow" about the time Colt was born. I was shocked to see a similar "Glow" in one of Colton's photos when he was 4 months old. Not wanting to believe that anything could be wrong with my precious newborn, I brushed it off as camera error. Over the next few months, Colton was having a difficult time focusing on objects. I discussed this with his pediatrician who assured me wandering eyes were normal for infants, and that it would correct itself. By the time he was 8 months old, one eye did correct itself. However his left eye still wandered more than I was comfortable with. This "lazy eye", along with the earlier photo, made me to insist on a referral to a specialist.
The specialist did a thorough exam of Colton and didn't find anything wrong at first. She decided to dilate his eyes to have a better look. Once dilated the she knew there was something wrong. She explained to me that she had serious concerns but wanted to confirm her suspicions with a colleague before giving a diagnosis. Several photos of Colton's eye were sent to Dr. Matthew Wilson at St. Jude's. Dr. Wilson is the leading pediatric oncologist there. It took only 30 minutes for him to confirm her belief that Colton had cancer. That afternoon, St. Jude's contacted me and set up an appointment the following Monday. Dr. Wilson scheduled an exam under anesthesia for Wednesday. After that examination Colton was officially diagnosed with Retinoblastoma. The two choices given were 1) Remove his eye and possibly follow up with chemotherapy or 2) Keep the eye but aggressively attack the tumor with chemotherapy, laser therapy,and cryotherapy. After careful consideration the decision was made to keep Colton's eye and fight the cancer. They started his first round of chemotherapy within a week.
Colton had 8 rounds of chemo, 12 treatments of cryotherapy, and numerous laser treatments. He has also had a radioactive plaque inserted into his eye. Colton's last chemo was in January of 2016 and his tumor is 99% calcified. His retina, which was completely detached, is now re-attaching and he has gained back a very limited amount of vision. Colton is now 3 1/2 years old. He is a sweet little boy with a very strong fighting spirit. Through all the testing, it has been discovered that his cancer is non-genetic and there is no trace of tumors in his other eye. He is still undergoing exams under anesthesia every 6-8 weeks. He is considered stable for now, but we have been warned it may not last.
UPDATE on 2/16/18: We got the latest MRI results back. Since he's been stable for 2 years and everything still looks great on his MRIs, he has graduated to having those done once a year now!!! We still come back in 9 weeks for his exam under anesthesia.
"Thank y'all! He adores it!"
