Daraine Cunningham’s swollen eye was reportedly dismissed for years, but after finally getting surgery, a life-changing diagnosis revealed a rare disease she never saw coming
For years, a teenager struggled with what she thought was a minor issue, only to later learn it was something far more serious. Daraine Cunningham wore fake eyelashes to cover what she believed was a “black eye,” a condition that doctors had reportedly dismissed as normal for years.
It wasn’t until later that she discovered it was actually a symptom of a rare form of cancer. Daraine’s primary school teacher first noticed her left eye was swollen when she was just nine. Despite this, GPs attributed the issue to her migraines, according to Daraine.
The 19-year-old explained that the dark appearance of her eye led people to assume it was a “black eye,” and she simply accepted it as “her flaw,” thinking “everyone is different.” At 14, doctors informed her they suspected a “harmless” lesion behind her eye and placed her on a non-urgent surgery waiting list.
Feeling insecure, Daraine started wearing large fake eyelashes to cover her eye, even having to reassure nightclub bouncers that it wasn’t a black eye. The lesion was finally removed on February 24, but by March 26, doctors informed her that it had tested positive for cancer. Diagnosed with alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), the devastated teen left her appointment in shock.
Opting against chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she has decided to have her eye removed in June and replaced with a prosthetic that will be “identical” to her other eye. The teenager said: “I went to the doctors and they were just telling me it was the migraines. I just assumed that everybody’s got something different about them and this is just my flaw. It could have been a defect or something from birth, I don’t know. I was always very insecure about it and I’d do anything to cover it up. I’d wear big false eyelashes.
“The thing I was told the most was, ‘have you got a black eye?’ At first it annoyed me and I was sick of hearing it but then I was so used to it I’d just laugh because it did look like a black eye. I used to go to a nightclub and when I was showing my ID I’d say, ‘I’ve not got a black eye, I don’t know what’s wrong with it’. I used to joke about it and I never ever really thought it could be cancer. Nobody ever did.
“I thought most people suffer from migraines so I never really thought that was linked to my eye. I always used to think it was because I was dehydrated but even when I drank enough water they didn’t seem to go away.
“Every now and again I’d get a little sharp stabbing pain in my eye but it would literally be there for a second and then it would go away. They (the doctors) said they didn’t have to operate on it but they could, just to make me feel better because I was quite insecure about it. It made me feel quite ugly.”
Daraine said that, in addition to her swollen eye, she also experienced frequent migraines up to five times a week but thought she was just dehydrated. She says doctors prescribed her beta blockers but she said these did not help.
In the five years that unemployed Daraine was waiting for her operation, she went for a couple of check-ups a year to monitor lesion’s growth. She admits she still cries about her upcoming operation but is coming to terms with the reality of losing one of her eyes.
The distraught teen admitted: “I was over the moon when I finally had the operation but then they tested it and found out it was cancerous. I was quite distraught and I walked out as soon as I heard the word cancer. Especially with me only being 18 at the time, it was a lot. In this generation, your looks are everything. I’m coming to terms with it more now because in the end (the operation) is better for me.
“I’m accepting it but then some days I cry. It comes and goes in waves. I need to have it removed for my own sake or it could damage my future. I didn’t want to give chemo a go because my grandad had cancer and he had chemo and he’s not here anymore so I thought, ‘I’m not even chancing it’.
Daraine is warning others to make sure their abnormalities and symptoms get checked out. She said: “If you notice anything unusual, get it checked. It could save your life. Don’t let anything go unnoticed, anything small, keep pushing through with the doctors, hospitals, keep trying. Don’t let them fob you off.”
Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare cancer that starts in soft tissues like muscle and fat. It can occur anywhere in the body and accounts for just 0.15% of all soft tissue sarcomas, with around six cases diagnosed annually in England.
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