Harper-Rose’s story - Where do we begin? Since Harper was a few weeks old we had noticed a slight turn in her left eye. After taking her to numerous doctors appointments they all put it down to her being a Prem baby. A few more months went by  and we started to notice more changes in her eye. Whenever we would take a photograph of Harper with the flash on her pupil would glow white. We booked another appointment with an eye specialist. On Friday 21st May 2021 we took our 8 month old daughter to what we thought would be a straight forward eye examination. This was the day our whole world was turned upside down. We found out our baby girl had a rare condition, she had a grade C tumour in her left eye. This was the first time we had ever heard of Retinoblastoma. Only on average 50 babies per year are diagnosed with this type of childhood cancer in the UK and as a result only two hospitals in the UK treat it. Thankfully within a few days Harper had her first appointment in Birmingham’s children’s Hospital with the Retinoblastoma team. From the moment we arrived they all made us feel safe and reassured us that with treatment Harper would beat this. We knew we had a long road ahead of us but they gave us the support we needed to get through this. One week later Harper was booked in for her first round of chemotherapy, she will need further treatment for the foreseeable future. 

We are so grateful to all the Retinoblastoma team at waterfall house who have taken control of Harper’s condition and frequently monitor her to stay ahead of this tumour. 

Harper has shown us just how strong she is, even after her first round of chemotherapy which was a two hour operation she arrived back from theatre smiling and clapping her hands. Harper has continued with this strength through out all of her appointments over the last 5 months. 

On Sunday 24th October Festus will be taking part in the ‘Rock n Roll’ half marathon for Harper-Rose to raise as much awareness and money for the Retinoblastoma Team at Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital.