{"id":9373,"date":"2025-12-09T11:25:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T12:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=9373"},"modified":"2025-12-10T21:34:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:34:31","slug":"i-spotted-something-on-the-baby-monitor-then-my-daughter-lost-her-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/09\/i-spotted-something-on-the-baby-monitor-then-my-daughter-lost-her-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"I spotted something on the baby monitor \u2014 then my daughter lost her eye"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kristen with her daughter Miley who has a rare form of cancer (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Kristen Draime looked at her two-year-old’s baby monitor<\/a> on November 8, her worst fear was confirmed – she knew her daughter had cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The monitor had revealed a ‘glow’ in her daughter Miley’s eye, which turned out to be retinoblastoma<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘I’d read an article about a mum who found a tumour<\/a> in her daughter’s eye after she went to sleep on the baby monitor,’ Kristen, 28, recalls.<\/p>\n

‘After we put her to sleep she was lying and had both her eyes open – it was so upsetting because I looked at the baby monitor and saw she also had a glow in her eye.’<\/p>\n

But that wasn’t the first sign that something was wrong, it simply confirmed the mum’s suspicion Miley was very unwell.<\/p>\n

‘A little bit after her second birthday in September we noticed her left eye was wandering,’ Kristen, from Cleveland, Ohio, says. ‘I pointed it out to my husband because I didn’t have a good feeling. <\/p>\n

‘I had no reason to think of cancer, I didn’t know retinoblastoma existed.’<\/p>\n

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The visible white glow in Miley’s eye can be seen on the baby monitor (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She sent a picture of Miley’s wandering eye to a paediatrician who referred her to an ophthalmologist, although they were going to have to wait until December to be seen.<\/p>\n

‘They thought she needed glasses,’ Kristen adds. But before the young family could attend that appointment, things took a worrying turn in November when they were giving Miley a bath.<\/p>\n

‘That night I saw her eye and thought “that’s not normal”,’ the mum explains. ‘We took a flash picture of her and saw the white in her pupil and I started freaking out.’<\/p>\n

She began researching the worrying symptom online, with retinoblastoma -a rare cancer usually affecting children under the age of three – coming up as a possible cause.<\/p>\n

It was that night she checked the baby monitor and saw the same white glow in Miley’s eye.<\/p>\n

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Dad Andrew and mum Kristen pictured with Miley (right) and their daughter Lilly (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘The next morning I covered her good eye with my hand and her other eye just went completely left, there was no vision in it,’ Kristen recalls. ‘We immediately went to the ER and I could tell they were concerned.’<\/p>\n

An oncologist soon arrived and told the parents it was retinoblastoma, confirming Miley had no vision in one eye.<\/p>\n

‘Even though I knew, to hear it was terrible,’ she adds.<\/p>\n

An ultrasound and MRI revealed the tumour behind the eye which covered her Miley’s entire eyeball, and doctors told the parents it was ‘blastoma stage E, which is the worst’.<\/p>\n

The two-year-old had her left eye removed on November 22, and is now waiting for a biopsy to determine whether she will need chemotherapy. Miley may also be getting a prosthetic eye.<\/p>\n

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The MRI shows the left eye with a white mass in it which is the retinoblastoma (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She and her husband Andrew, 33, have been navigating this all while caring for their eight-week-old newborn Lilly and 13-year-old daughter Aniston, and have set up a Go Fund Me<\/a> because they are unable to work while Miley undergoes treatment.<\/p>\n

Now, Kristen is sharing her story with others in hopes other parents will know the signs to look out for.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tRetinoblastoma\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
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Retinoblastoma can appear in one or both eyes, and affects the back of the eye (known as the retina) which sends signals to the brain to help you see.<\/p>\n

Around 44 children are diagnosed with this cancer each year in the UK.<\/p>\n

The main symptom is a white glow or reflection in the pupil, which you may be able to spot just from looking at the eye, or in photos where flash has been used.<\/p>\n

Other symptoms include:<\/p>\n