Antonia Lambert intially noticed something was wrong with her daughter Delilah in March, before it was discovered in June that she had a rare and serious condition
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When Antonia Lambert took her 17-month-old daughter Delilah-Rose Lambert to the opticians earlier this year, she had no idea what was about to transpire.
Antonia, 20, had noticed her daughter’s left eye shine white and wanted to find out why. After the opticians referred her to the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, they attended an appointment, after which they were sent home when nothing was found.
When Delilah started rubbing her left eye constantly and developed a fear of the dark just weeks later, Antonia, from South Killingholme in North Lincolnshire, was referred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
It was there that doctors made a tragic discovery. In June, three months after symptoms had first been noticed, Delilah was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma. According to the NHS, this is a rare type of eye cancer that can affect young children.
Following the diagnosis, which Delilah’s family believed caused her fear of the dark because she could see less, Antonia’s daughter had to have her entire left eye removed.
Although Delilah has now been given a temporary prosthetic, it will be a few more weeks before she receives a longer-lasting one. While the situation cannot be changed, hairdresser Antonia believes that, had they not been initially dismissed, her daughter might still have her left eye.
Speaking about the beginnings of their horrific ordeal, Antonia spoke about how she first came to notice something was wrong with her daughter.
She said: “We had a lamp on in our room and one of her pupils looked white. We didn’t think much of it but she started to get wobbly so we took her to get her eyes tested.
“[Before her diagnosis], she refused to settle in her room and would cry for hours until I put a light on or took her out of that room.”
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Antonia also spoke about how hard it was to hear that her daughter had such a difficult diagnosis. She said: “There were so many emotions at the time and I didn’t know how to feel. I sat and cried for days.
“I think most of the frustration was with our local hospital because they decided her eye wasn’t important enough to examine at the start and it made me think that it could have been different. The tumour might have been smaller if she was seen earlier and they could have potentially saved her eye.”
Despite the heartbreak, Antonia is determined to raise awareness of retinoblastoma so that other parents know what symptoms to look for and can act quickly.
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She urged: “You need to trust your gut and push as much as possible. We didn’t push enough at the start, but we kept going and going – and she ended up getting her eye removed.
“It’s not massively common. We were told 30 to 40 kids a year in the UK get diagnosed with this. You don’t think it’s going to be you – until it is.
“Opticians don’t usually test children’s eyes under four unless there are concerns, but if you spot anything unusual, you definitely need to get their sight checked.”
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In a statement, a spokesperson for the NHS Humber Health Partnership said: “We are sorry to hear about the difficulties Miss Lambert and her daughter encountered at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital earlier this year.
“We would be keen for her to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service team so we can discuss the issues with her in more detail and allow us to investigate fully.”