Treating eye cancer, a genetic disorder

BANGALORE: Mohiuddin, a two-year-old boy,  who had been suffering from eye cancer since birth is being treated in a city based hospital. The little boy had lost his elder sibbling  to the same disorder. However, early intervention and medical advancement is helping this child recover. “My father also suffered from eye cancer, and now, this genetic disorder has passed to my children. Fortunately, we were informed about it before Mohiuddin’s birth and immediately we were prepared for his treatment”, says Safulla, Mohiuddin’s father, once an eye cancer patient. Currently Mohiuddin is undergoing chemotherapy and later would be treated with lasor technique. The treatment will continue till he reaches the age of 15.Similarly, five-year-old Helen, who was diagnosed with eye cancer when she was just 11-months-old was also cured with timely treatment. Her singer-mother Shalom is happy that her daughter is not blind like her. But children affected with eye cancer or retinoblastoma can see the world with timely treatment. White reflex in children and squint in early childhood are the best example to detect retinoblastoma. There are 1,300 known genetic disorders, out of which 191 are eye related genetic disorders. Retinoblastoma is the third most common type of cancer affecting 2,000 children in India every year.