Toddler loses eye to rare cancer after mum noticed she couldn't see while playing

In a sad incident, a toddler lost her eye to a rare form of cancer after her mother noticed she could not see while playing pirates.

Alice Taylor, from Dorset was diagnosed with the aggressive eye-cancer retinoblastoma in May last year when she was just two years-old.

The youngster had been going blind in her left eye for months, however, nobody had noticed.

It was not until she put an eye patch over her right eye while dressing up as a pirate, that her mother, Emily, 30, realised her daughter could no longer see.

Despite Alice enduring eight rounds of gruelling chemo, as well as laser therapy, surgeons were eventually forced to remove her eye.

The youngster, who will soon turn 4 now wears am artificial eye and is back to being a ‘cheeky’ fun loving girl.

Her mum first took Alice to see her GP in December 2016 after her nursery teacher pointed out that the youngster was squinting. Her doctor referred her to an eye specialist at a local hospital. While it took a few months to get through with the appointment, other relatives started to comment on Alice's squint and Emily noticed her daughter's eye appeared almost see-through in certain lighting.

Emily then took it open herself to do some online research and retinoblastoma came up.

Speaking about it Emily said, “I decided to do some tests at home, covering up each eye to see what happened. We played a pirate game, putting a patch over her "good eye", and it became clear she couldn't see.”

Alice was referred to Bournemouth Hospital, where the consultant referred her again to the Royal London Hospital; and it was there that she was diagnosed.

'They told us we could remove Alice's eye straight away or try chemotherapy and there was a 50/50 chance of saving it,' Emily said.

Alice endured six rounds of chemotherapy, as well as a further two rounds of specialist chemo where drugs were delivered directly into her eye.

The youngster also had laser therapy, as well as the 'cold treatment' cryotherapy.

Sadly, however, the treatments were unsuccessful and Alice was forced to have her eye removed in June.

Retinoblastoma makes up around two per cent of all cancers diagnosed in children before the age of 15.