Kent infant's rare cancer spotted after mum took pictures on her phone with flash on

A mum detected her son's rare cancer using the flash on her mobile phone camera.

Gillingham mum Sarah Hedges, 40, was busy making dinner when she spotted a "white glow" in her son Thomas' eye. She described seeing something "like a cat's eye" in the three-month-old, and took photos with her phone's flash on.

The mum-of-four Googled what she saw - and results suggested he might have cancer - so she showed the photos to her GP. Tests confirmed Sarah's suspicions and he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma - a rare and aggressive form of eye cancer that affects babies and young children.

He had chemotherapy and is now stable.

Sarah, a support worker, said: "I thought my son was going to die. I thought I was going to lose him, when you hear the word cancer you automatically think of the worse - this can be life-threatening.

"I just wanted to be swallowed up and someone to tell me that it was a bad dream and that I would wake up in a minute. My world just fell apart. I just sobbed he just kept talking and holding my hand trying to comfort me."

Sarah was cooking dinner for her three other children, Beth, 21, Dillan, 16, and Lucas, eight, in November 2022 when she noticed the glow.

She said: "I noticed his eye looked like a cat's eye. I couldn't see it again so then I wondered whether it was just the lighting.

"It was playing on my mind, so the next day I moved Thomas around in different rooms near lighting and eventually, I saw it again.

"I remembered years ago seeing something about a flash on the camera, but I had no idea what it was for or where I saw it, so I took some photos of his eye using the flash. When I Googled it, it came up with cancer."

After five days, Sarah finally got through to a GP and booked an appointment. The GP didn't seem worried but referred Thomas to Medway Hospital after seeing a picture of the white glow in his eye.

There, he was diagnosed with eye cancer.

Thomas was referred to the Royal London Hospital, and had six rounds of chemo, starting November 2022. And after battling sepsis, he finished his final round of chemotherapy on April 6, 2023 and rang the bell on May 10, 2023.

Sarah said that Thomas is recovering well and is a "cheeky little boy". She added: “Thomas is a very happy little boy. He loves playing with his older brother rough and tumble on the floor."