Something just wasn’t right about baby Oliver Furnival, who was diagnosed when he was just five months old after his mum spotted clear warning signs in his eye
A mum “nearly collapsed” after receiving a heartbreaking diagnosis after noticing something about her baby son’s eye.
Oliver Furnival, from Bootle, is now eight months old but his mum, Olivia Hannaford, 29, started to notice shortly after his birth that his right eye appeared different from his left. Olivia observed that her baby’s right eye didn’t appear to be as focused as his left.
She was also convinced there was a ‘glow’ in his right eye. Olivia said: “It just wasn’t as focussed on the other one. When he’d be looking at you, the eye wasn’t as focussed as the other one. I noticed it wasn’t the same. As the days were going on, I was thinking, Something’s not right.”
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When Oliver reached four months old, Olivia contacted her health visitor, who agreed with her concerns and they requested an appointment at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. She thought that it might simply be a case of Oliver needing to wear glasses, reports the Liverpool Echo.
A few weeks later, Olivia went away for several days. But when she returned, she became even more worried. She said: “When I came back, it was as if his eye had completely changed. It was when he was tired throughout the day that you could notice it most. There was a glow inside his actual eye, like a shadow following it. I was thinking, ‘No, that’s not right’. “
Olivia contacted Alder Hey again and sent the hospital photographs of her son’s eye. She said: “I rang Alder Hey and I explained to them, we don’t have an appointment yet, but I’m just really worried about my son’s eyes.
“They said to me, send us some pictures of it. He was only five months so trying to get a picture of it was just a nightmare but you could see the glow.
Shortly afterwards, medics arranged to meet Olivia, Tom and Oliver at Broadgreen Hospital whilst Olivia was preparing for ankle surgery. Olivia recalled: “I’d sent these pictures in the morning and went to Broadgreen. As I was in the waiting room, Alder Hey phoned me and said, one of the doctors has had a little look at your pictures, he’s okay to come in the next hour.”
It emerged that Oliver had been diagnosed with retinoblastoma – a rare form of eye cancer affecting young children which targets the retina at the back of the eye. Just 40 to 50 children receive this diagnosis in the UK annually.
Oliver is currently receiving chemotherapy treatment at a Birmingham hospital for the condition, which has affected his right eye. The NHS states that the primary symptom of retinoblastoma is a white glow or white reflection in the centre of the eye. This may be visible simply by looking at the eye, or might appear in dim lighting or in flash photography. Additional symptoms include eyes that point in different directions.
The diagnosis came as a devastating blow for his mother Olivia and her partner, Tom Furnival. Olivia said: “The doctor said to us, ‘I’m so sorry to be the one to tell you this but he’s got a cancerous tumour in his eye. I nearly collapsed on the floor, as you can imagine.
“The nurse who was with us was really upset as well. When you just hear the word cancer, you automatically think the worst. He’d just hit five months. I was thinking, how does this happen to a baby? I’d never even heard of retinoblastoma before. I didn’t know what type of cancer that was.”
This particular illness means there’s a possibility the infant could lose their eye completely, and it might be hereditary. Fortunately, due to swift intervention, this outcome has probably been prevented.
Olivia explained: “The point of chemo was to shrink the tumour. There will always be a calcified tumour in his eye; it just won’t be active anymore, hopefully. If it came back as genetic, there’s a chance in the future that cancer could appear somewhere else. But they are quite sure that it won’t; it will just be in his eye.
“We’re hoping in the future that the retina reattaches itself. If not, there’s surgery that they can try to do. He needs that to be reattached to see anything else. He’ll never have the same vision (in his right) as his other eye. We’ve been told he’ll never be a pilot and never be in the army.”
Despite this positive development, Oliver’s condition has brought considerable upheaval for both him and his family. Olivia shared: “I feel like our lives are just on hold at this moment. We feel safe in Birmingham; that’s where all of us doctors are and they’re the people that reassure you the most, but we have to go there every three weeks. I feel like we’ve gone through this for years, but actually it’s only been three months.”
Despite everything, Oliver remains a joy to his mum. Olivia expressed: “He’s just so happy and so pleasant. He’s a lovely baby and sleeps nine hours, right through the night. He is the perfect baby.”
Throughout their ordeal, the family has received support from the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust. A fundraiser is set to take place at The Silvestrian Club on Silvester Street in Vauxhall.
Originally planned to be held at the Mel Inn in Bootle, the venue was changed due to the overwhelming interest. Olivia explained: “With this type of charity, you don’t get any government funding because there’s just not enough patients. Only 40 children a year are diagnosed with this.
“The whole point of this charity night is to raise money just purely for that charity. We want to raise awareness too and for people to understand the signs. A lot of my friends have children who are the same age.”
The event is being organised by Sefton OA, a football club where Tom coaches. The evening will feature raffles and bingo. Tickets are priced at £5 and the event will kick off at 7pm on November 1. You can find out more here.