News about Richard Ashton

When she was playing in front of the television, Kirstin Smith, 29, a primary school teacher from Shetland, Scotland, noticed a 'cloudy spot' (circled, left) in her two-year-old son Kian's eye. Kirstin's neighbor, a GP, told Kirstin that she should go to the optician to get it checked out right away. Kirstin then took Kian to an eye clinic in Aberdeen, Scotland, where doctors discovered a mass on his eye. The tot was then referred to the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, where medics there suspected it was a retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer that can affect young children. Kian was admitted in December 2022 when he was admitted to Birmingham Women and Children's Hospital because it is the closest hospital that can treat Kian's cancer.

Isla Palul, a mother from Putney, has told the world that her then-14-month-old daughter Isla Palul (pictured above with a 'white glow' in her eye, inset in hospital, and right with her parents) has eye cancer. Rebecca (centre) and Charlotte Palul (centre-right) and Isla's mothers, Rebecca (centre) and Charlotte Palul (centre-right), noticed her eye moving strangely as she played with toys during Christmas 2020. The mothers called their GP after being concerned that their eye seemed to be 'whizzing' around. Doctors diagnosed Isla, a rare and aggressive form of eye cancer, in January 2021, after weeks of testing. Isla has now undergone chemotherapy, which 'did its job' and reduced the tumour's size. The tot is also receiving medication to keep it under control, but it has been left with reduced vision.