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Parents hear a tree fall from their roof
As soon as they heard the noise, Courtney Buchholtz and her husband ran to their 5 month old son Cannon’s bedroom, where they heard him cry. Fortunately, nothing heavier than insulation fell directly onto Cannon and he was not injured.
A photo taken on a Georgian mother’s cell phone saved her son’s life.
Josie Rock, 41, a mother of three from Gainesville, discovered her 3-month-old son Asher had a rare form of cancer after taking a photo of him. She said the flash went off accidentally, revealing an abnormality in her son’s right eye.
Asher Rock, who is 7 years old today, is a grade D retinoblastoma survivor after being diagnosed when he was just 3 months old. Her mother, Josie Rock, discovered a tumor in her right eye after she had a white glow in a photo.
(Courtesy of Josie Rock)
“I was just taking pictures of him and the lighting changed in our room, the flash picked up the reflection and his eye was glowing white,” Rock told FOX News Tuesday.
Rock, a labor and delivery nurse, recalled hearing about retinoblastoma, a type of eye cancer that begins at the back of the eye and is more common in children. Tumors in the eye can be detected on photographic flashes as being white when the tumor covers what would usually be a red reflection of the retina.
“I knew then that Asher had cancer. It was scary to say the least. He was just a baby,” Rock said.
Asher’s right eye glowed white, alerting his mother to see a doctor for her son, who was 3 months old at the time.
(Courtesy of Josie Rock)
She took more photos with a professional camera and shared them with her fellow nurse practitioners, who told her that the glow in Asher’s eyes may just have been due to the lighting.
But Rock wanted to be sure, so she took Asher to the pediatrician.
“I remember the color that flowed from her [the doctor’s] face after doing the appropriate examination. She turned off the lights, looked him in the eye and said, ‘Something’s wrong,’ “said Rock.
GIRLS LAUNCH A LMONADE STAND IN TRIBUTE TO HIS ON WHOM COULD NOT GET A HEART TRANSPLANT
Asher was diagnosed with Grade D retinoblastoma, which is defined by the American Cancer Society as “large or ill-defined tumors with extensive vitreous or subretinal seeding. The most severe stage of retinoblastoma is group E.
Asher, pictured here, underwent treatment at the Aflac Cancer & Blood Disorders Center clinic at Children’s Healthcare in Atlanta.
(Courtesy of Josie Rock)
“There are two kinds, heritable and non-heritable. Those who have them, their parents may have had it so they are checked at birth, whereas if you don’t have a family history it is difficult to find out if you have them, “Dr. Tomas Olson, director of the solid tumor program at Aflac Cancer Center of Children’s Healthcare in Atlanta, told FOX.
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“At first we gave him [Asher] intravenous chemotherapy and the ophthalmologist used lasers on the spots [on his eye] and there have been answers. He finished chemo in 2015. The problem with retinoblastoma is that it can show up in other places. Over time he brought up a few new ones and they were laser engraved, ”Olson said.
Asher has undergone 54 exams to date and is still being treated.
“I’ve never known a stronger kid,” Rock said. “He’s so positive – he’s not a moaner – he finds joy in everything we do.”
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