Lucy's Story
(10/25/07) Lucy Stancliff is a beautiful little girl facing a big battle at her young age. She is just 1 ½ years old and in mid September (2007) they discovered she has retinoblastoma, which is cancer of the retina. It is a rare form of childhood cancer--only about 250 cases are diagnosed in the U.S. annually. Fortunately the survival rate is very good in the developed world--around 95%.
Retinoblastoma - (Reh-tin-oh-blast-oma) is a cancer of one or both eyes which occurs in young children. The retinoblastoma tumor(s) originate in the retina, the light sensitive layer of the eye which enables the eye to see. Lucy has bilateral retinoblastoma, which means the tumors occur in both eyes.
Common signs of retinoblastoma include:
•a white "glow" or "glint" in the pupil of one or both eyes in dim lighting
•white pupil in a color photo
Here is how they found out that Lucy was in trouble: On Saturday, September 15th, Steve and Amy were alerted of some pictures of Lucy where her eyes looked abnormal. Their brother-in-law, Lincoln, was the one who noticed these pictures and then researched what it could mean. Lincoln emailed the pictures to them early Saturday morning with a few links to some websites on retinoblastoma. They are so thankful for Lincoln's inspiration and they feel that this was a small miracle in itself because neither Steve nor Amy had any knowledge about this type of cancer, or the symptoms.
Lucy is undergoing chemotherapy treatments every 3 weeks.
Lucy had her EUA (examination under anesthesia) on Thursday October 11th and the doctors were really pleased with the results. The huge tumor in her left eye is disintegrating, and the doctor said that he could see where the numerous tumors probably merged together. He's not sure if Lucy will be able to keep her left eye, but if things continue to go well, then there is a good possibility that she will be able to. The right eye is doing really well also. There were three smaller tumors in it a month ago and now they are also shrinking, and one has disappeared all together!
Lucy likes to look at books, watch her Baby Einstein videos, and dance. She loves her big brother Soren, who is 3 ½ years old. Her mom Amy stays at home to take care of Lucy and Soren and Steve is a teacher at the Hugh Hartman campus of Redmond High School.
Sparrow cash raised for Lucy will help pay for trips to the hospital in Portland (gas, food, and lodging), the cost of the lab work (she has her blood drawn every other week), and monthly MRI’s. Even with insurance, the cost of having Lucy admitted to the hospital every three weeks is also expensive.