Parents noticed change in daughter's eye before 'blindsiding' diagnosis View 4 Images

The parents of a toddler who was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer at the age of one have said they hope she will have “as close to a normal life as she can when she’s older, but we’re not there yet”. Ava Grace, the now-three-year-old daughter of Vicki Cooper-Bird, 37, and Ian Bird, 40, was diagnosed with retinoblastoma – cancer of the retina – shortly after her first birthday in 2023.

The rare cancer affects between 40 and 50 people each year, usually children under five, and has cost Ava her right eye.

“Ava’s diagnosis, it was completely blindsiding,” Vicki, who lives in Port Talbot, South Wales, said. “We had no idea, nothing.”

Ava had been a happy and healthy little girl, but everything changed w

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