A mum was left wondering if her son would live after noticing an unusual glow in his right eye. Laura Breeze, 39, first observed a white glow in her three-year-old son Brody's right eye in November 2024, initially thinking it was simply the reflection of the kitchen lights.

A trip to their local GP reassured her that nothing was amiss, but Laura kept seeing the strange reflection. An optician also identified the glow and referred Brody to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, where he faced a week-long wait for an appointment.

Worried, Laura consulted a private paediatric ophthalmologist, who said he was 99.9 per cent certain Brody had retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer. He was urgently referred to Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital, where tests confirmed a tumour in his right eye.

Brody has since completed two rounds of intra-arterial chemotherapy, which delivers drugs directly into the eye, and is now receiving laser therapy.

Laura, a mum-of-four, from Norwich, said: "The whole situation, looking back now, is a bit of a blur. The shock, fear and panic we felt, whilst trying to maintain normality and balance for Brody and my other children, was extremely difficult.

"I cried a lot initially; my worst fear as a mother had come true and the unknown around treatment was a lot to handle. I was so frightened, I had never had to deal with cancer in my family before. The immediate thing when you think of cancer is death.

"It was like 'oh my gosh', is he going to make it? Is he going to be alright? Has it spread? It was really scary."

Following her observation of a white gleam in Brody's eye, Laura first assumed it could have been the kitchen lighting reflecting off his eye. However, upon witnessing it a second time, she raised it with her local GP, who Laura maintains examined Brody's eye and declared him healthy.

"It was November 2024, so the nights were dark and the lights in the house were on," Laura explained. "When he came into the kitchen, for a split second, I saw a reflective glow in his eye.

"The first time I saw it, I thought perhaps I hadn't seen it properly, or that it may just have been the kitchen lights catching his eye a certain way. The doctor looked in Brody's eye and told me all was fine. I came away from the appointment feeling reassured that everything was OK."

A couple of days afterwards, Laura spotted the white gleam in Brody's right eye once more and began searching online for possible explanations. The sole information appearing related to retinoblastoma, prompting the mother to arrange an appointment with her neighbourhood optician.

Laura said: "The optician said to me that he could see what I was saying about a cloudy glow in Brody's eye and said that he was going to do an urgent referral to the hospital. Within an hour of leaving the opticians, our local hospital called to arrange an appointment. This is when I really started to panic and I just knew that this was serious."

Unwilling to wait a week for Brody's hospital referral, Laura and her husband Ryan, 41, arranged an appointment with a private paediatric ophthalmologist in Manchester. After dilating Brody's eye, the specialist said he was 99.9 per cent certain Brody had retinoblastoma and sent him to Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital.

Laura explained: "Brody had an examination under anaesthetic and the consultant confirmed to us that Brody had unilateral retinoblastoma in his right eye. He had one large Grade D tumour.

"They were hopeful they could save his eye, but said vision in that eye was unlikely due to the tumour's location. Luckily, it was just one tumour, and it hadn't spread to his left eye."

Now three years old, Laura described Brody as "full of beans" and said he continues to attend the hospital for monthly check-ups to monitor his condition.

Laura added: "Brody is such an outgoing character; he is switched on, plays football at toddler football sessions and attends a lovely playschool where he has some wonderful wee friends. Brody is close to his key worker at playschool and she and the other staff there have been excellent during all of this. They have brought stuff round to our house to keep him entertained during hospital visits and have been so supportive."

The Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT) states that common indicators of retinoblastoma include a white glow in the eye, which may only be visible in particular lighting conditions or in a photograph taken with flash, a squint, a change in the eye's appearance, or a swollen eye.

Richard Ashton, chief executive of CHECT, said: "Brody's story shows the importance of retinoblastoma awareness among health professionals. We are grateful that Brody's diagnosis was confirmed and that he was able to receive treatment.

"If you're worried that a child you know may have retinoblastoma, please take them to a GP or optician as soon as possible. The Child Cancer Smart campaign advises health professionals to refer to the local on-call paediatrician if a child has had three persistent symptoms, has visited their health professional three times or had unexplained symptoms for three weeks."