Cancer changes lives. In an instant everything is different. Some say life becomes clearer. Others say it doesn’t. A cancer diagnosis affects everyone differently – and yet, the same. Everyone seems to remember that moment that they just knew. Whether being told by a doctor, or having a gut-wrenching feeling that you just know what’s coming, that’s the moment that changes everything.

“I will never forget it. My sister was drying Charlotte off – it was a Thursday at the beginning of February – and saw through her eye. She said, ‘Did you see this?!’ My heart just dropped and I knew exactly what she meant,” Heather recalls. Heather is Charlotte’s mom. Beautiful, adorable 2-year old Charlotte that brought sunshine to our recent Fashion Show.

You see, earlier this year, right after New Year’s, Heather noticed Charlotte’s right eye was kind of transparent. Her mom, her sister, even her husband Anthony, couldn’t see it. Even Charlotte’s pediatrician didn’t seem too concerned at that point – maybe he couldn’t see it either. He made Charlotte an appointment with an ophthalmologist, because her eyes were crossing a little. But now, in February, before the appointment arrived, Heather’s sister noticed the transparency.

“It went from cross-eyed, to transparent, to a white glow, within a week,” Heather explained. She knew something was horribly wrong and they were able to get Charlotte’s appointment moved up after a visit to the emergency room.

“Anthony (Charlotte’s dad) stayed calm at the hospital-I thought he was in shock-I was a hot mess. He broke down so badly when we got home. After Charlotte went to sleep, we just cried in each other’s arms out on the couch,” Heather recalls.

After testing over a very long weekend, Charlotte’s parents were given the official diagnosis on Monday. Retinoblastoma. In both eyes.

Charlotte was admitted to the hospital that day and underwent an intense eye exam. “On Wednesday, we were told we had no more than a month to decide, but we should decide within a week, whether or not we wanted them to remove her eye. It wasn’t a decision we took lightly – either remove the right eye or cancer could spread to her brain. Children do die from this. Yes, there is a 95% success rate with treatment and the right circumstances, but…” Heather trails off.

So, within two weeks little Charlotte went from her eye having a white glow, to having her eye removed, and a prosthetic eye. Heather explained that now, the focus is on trying to save her left eye. “You see, this type of cancer goes from Stage A to Stage E-the worst. Her right eye was already at E, but her left is only at C, and we are hoping to save that one.”

After her right eye was removed, Charlotte underwent 6 months of systemic chemotherapy, one day at a time for 5-6 hours a day, with very limited results. They also tried a laser treatment, but that was halted when it wasn’t working as they had hoped. Now, Charlotte is undergoing 3 rounds of intra-arterial chemotherapy. Every three weeks, for 3-4 months she is put under an anesthetic, a needle is inserted into an artery near her right groin and chemo is run up that artery, through her entire body, to her left eye.

Charlotte is given a calming medicine before surgery, because her reaction varies so much, and they don’t want her to hurt herself. “She either wakes up happy or screaming because she wants her mom,” Heather says. During recovery, Heather says they are allowed to be with her when she starts to wake up, but then they have to go into another room for 5-6 hours, so the doctors and nurses can keep Charlotte still while she recovers.

“She’s not allowed to move her right leg during that time – to limit risks, especially of blood clots. There is also a risk of stroke while she is under. It’s extra scary because she’s so tiny,” Heather explains.

Another scary thing for Heather is knowing that bills need to be paid, and they somehow need to get Charlotte to the hospital for treatments. Fortunately, their social worker helped them apply for travel assistance from Compass to Care.

“With me not working now, and my husband being out of work because of a blood clot, it has been a huge life-saver in getting her back and forth. We don’t know what we would do without Compass to Care. It would be a huge struggle. We are so blessed and thankful,” said Heather.