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MEMPHIS — Tara Taylor, of Memphis, Tenn., told WREG she was proud that her daughter put her hair up with bows and pins all by herself and wanted to show her friends and family.
So she did what millions of people across the world do every day and uploaded the photo to Facebook. She didn’t realize that her simple action would help save her daughter’s eyesight.
In the picture she posted, 3-year-old Rylee’s eyes are reflecting the light from the flash. But Rylee’s left eye looked like it was almost glowing with light, and some of her friends noted their concern.
“They said, ‘Hey, I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s probably the lighting, but your daughter’s eye is glowing and you might want to have it checked out because it’s a sign there could be an issue with her eye,’” Taylor told WREG.
Taylor took her daughter to her doctor, who referred them to retina specialist Dr. Jorge Calzada from the Charles-Retina Institute. Rylee was diagnosed with Coat’s disease, a very rare, non-hereditary condition that can cause partial or full blindness.
The earlier the detection, the more successful the treatment is for Coat’s disease, Calzada told KSL.com. Coat's disease often begins at birth but is not usually diagnosed until as late as 6 years old, he said, and is more often found in males. Fluid leaks around the retina which can cause scar tissue that leads to visual loss.
With Rylee, we were able to diminish the size of the scar. She's never going to see normal out of that eye, but we are trying to give her the best vision possible.
–Dr. Jorge Calzada to KSL.com
"With Rylee, we were able to diminish the size of the scar," Calzada said. "She's never going to see normal out of that eye, but we are trying to give her the best vision possible."
Calzada said that parents should not ignore any sort of eye glow in a photo.
"The thing we are most concerned about is a retinoblastoma," Calzada told KSL.com, adding that an untreated tumor can lead to death.
Coat's disease is a benign condition but it can cause permanent damage, he said, and the Charles-Retina Institute treats young patients from all around the country with many different disorders.
This isn't the first time an uploaded Facebook photo has helped save a child's life. In 2011, Slate write Deborah Kogan kept her Facebook friends updated on her son's illness, which doctors at first thought was Scarlet fever.
An old Facebook acquaintance called her up immediately when she noticed Kogan's son had symptoms of Kawasaki disease, she wrote, which is a rare autoimmune disorder that attacks arteries around heart, the same disease her own son had. Kogan's son received treatment just in time to save his heart and liver.
