Hi, I am the mom of two wonderful boys, Jared, age 7 1/2 and Aaron age 3 (I will be four in August). Jared was born with bilateral Retinoblastoma, unfortunately, I was the only one who saw it and I didn't know what I was looking at. At two months of age the pediatrician gave in to my nagging persistence about a white spot and not tracking and sent us to a Ophthalmologist, who sent us to a Retina Specialist. Anyway, to make a very long story a little shorter. Jared was diagnosed with bilateral Retinoblastoma. We were floored. I called every cancer agency in the country and had information rushed to me. We were sent to a Children's hospital near our home and the doctor there insisted upon immediate removal of the right eye and radiation to the left. He would not have any part in answering questions and when we asked about check ups he told us none would be necessary. (Scary, Huh!) This same hospital has sent several other children home from Retinoblastoma treatment under the fog of thinking it could never return. Since I got extremely mad at this doctor, I called every where trying to find answers to our questions. I was received very warmly by a local radiologist and he said to bring the baby in. He was our redeemer, because he sent us to St. Jude's. They answered our questions and although the right eye had a very large singular tumor they agreed to try external beam radiation to both eyes. Jared kept both eyes for seventeen months, when a new tumor appeared in the right eye. We tried a plaque, but it broke through about 6 weeks later and the eye was removed. The eye was so full of cancer cells by that time that the iris was turning white. For some reason the cancer cell went forward instead of back to the optic nerve and although he never was free of cancer the choroid and soft tissues surrounding the eye were affected. We then proceeded with chemotherapy for one year to hopefully kill any "Loose" cells. Jared 2 years later had another tumor on the left eye. It was treated three times with Cryotherapy and each time it broke through. In August of 1994 he had a second plaque. So far it has been successful and we have had no reoccurrence of cancer since then. Jared has been put to sleep more times than I can remember, Had four Broviac lines, six weeks of external beam radiation, during which he went into respiratory arrest once due to reaction to anesthesia (he was less than 3 months old), he has lost a good deal of hearing due to chemo, and now we are working our way though cataracts from the last radiation. We home-school, because when Jared started public school he was not allowed to go to the bathroom alone, walk down the hall alone, etc. Academically Jared is above average, we just finished standardized testing and used a test one grade level above his grade, the results are not in yet, but as his teacher I feel that he did well. Jared plays soccer on the local AYSO team, has taken karate for three years now, Jared is also very excited because he read 1512 Braille pages for the NFB Braille Readers are Leaders contest. Oh, I almost forgot, Jared is well beyond legally blind, his tumors sat right on the macular area and he has only peripheral vision in the remaining eye. You can probably tell that Jared is my Hero, he is always positive (well, except for doing homework) and he is a great big brother.