Baby saved after friend spots eye cancer clue in photograph emailed by girl's mother

A mother diagnosed cancer in a baby girl she had never met - after a chatroom friend from America emailed her a photograph of her daughter.

Madeleine Robb, from Stretford, spotted an unusual white shadow on the eye of one-year-old Rowan Santos.

The 32-year-old business analyst has no medical training but discovered it could be a symptom of an eye cancer called Retinoblastoma after searching on the web.


She sent an e-mail to alert Rowan's mother Megan, at her home 4,300 miles away in Tampa.

Within hours, Mrs Santos, 32, had taken Rowan to a doctor, who found a large tumour in her left eye - and the youngster is now having chemotherapy.

Doctors say Madeleine's alert may have saved Rowan's life, although she will still lose an eye.


Mrs Santos said: 'Grateful cannot even begin to describe how we feel toward Maddie.


'Do I consider Madeleine our hero? Most certainly - if she hadn't sent that e-mail, Rowan's prognosis wouldn't be as good as it is.

'One more week and the tumour could have hit her optic nerve.'

Madeleine, who also has a one-year-old daughter Lileth, met Rowan's mother through a pregnancy website when they were both expecting their babies.

Mrs Santos, who lives with husband David, said she had seen a slight change in Rowan's eye colour, but the white shadow only showed up in a flash photo.


The cancer was not detected when Rowan had a routine check-up at nine months and Mrs Santos had no idea her daughter was in danger.


But Mrs Robb was modest about her role: 'I didn't do anything special, but it shows how important it is to be aware of symptoms,' she said.


'Apparently, it shows up more on photos and new parents take pictures of their children all the time - they just have to know what to look for.'

Retinoblastoma symptoms include an odd-looking, white pupil or red and inflamed eye, worsened vision or a squint.


Early detection can allow for more localised treatment and avoid the need for surgery.

The girls were born on the same day in August 2007 and the families kept in touch, e-mailing photos of them growing up.