This is a picture of our beautiful grandson Walter who is 7 months old. Sadly Walter has been diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma, which is a very rare childhood eye cancer. If you visit www.chect.org.uk you can learn more about this cancer, one which our family had never heard of before. Luckily for Walter he was born and lives in Sweden, at 6 months old in Sweden all babies are given a health screening which includes a doctor looking in the childs eyes. The doctor examining Walter has practised medicine for over 40 years and had never seen retinoblastoma before, there are 3 cases a year in Sweden where the cancer affects both eyes, in the UK there are about 40 to 50 cases per year. Walter has undergone 2 sessions of chemotherepy and has had three tumors removed by laser treatment. The care will continue until Walter is about 5 years old, this is when the eyes are fully formed, and the cancer can no longer grow, the survival rate for this cancer is 98% and Walter is receiving fantastic care. We do not yet know to what extent Walters eyesight will be affected, because the cancer was diagnosed early, it has not spread into the optic nerve, so we are all hoping that he will not be blind. If Walter had been born in the UK it is unlikely that his cancer would yet be diagnosed, babies in the UK do not get their eyes checked as a routine. The prognosis is very good, Walter when not being ill from the Chemo is wonderful, happy, beautiful and so very precious to us all. The reason for my post is about awareness, we as a family will jointly in Sweden and the UK be embarking on fundraising and awareness campaigning in the new year. Any funds raised in the UK will remain in the UK, and the same for Sweden. I will be keeping people informed of Walters progress. Walter is blissfully unaware of his condition, and is a very happy 7 month old baby, we are going to see him and Billy and Christin for Christmas in Sweden and I will post photos as soon as I have them. We want to make as many people as possible aware of Retinoblastoma, so if you can pass it on to your friends it would be massively appreciated.Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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