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A little bit about Retinoblastoma. This information has been borrowed from the American Childhood Cancer Organization.
"Retinoblastoma is a malignancy of the retinal cell layer of the eye. It is the most common eye tumor in children and it usually occurs before the age of five. It can occur in one eye (unilateral) or in both eyes (bilateral). Retinoblastoma is usually confined to the eye and has not spread to other tissues. The present challenge for those who treat retinoblastoma is to prevent blindness and other serious effects of treatment that reduce the life span or the quality of life after treatment.
In about 40% of the cases, retinoblastoma is hereditary, or germline. The genetic locus responsible for a predisposition to retinoblastoma is located within the q14 band of chromosome 13.
Patients with retinoblastoma, particularly the hereditary type, have an increased frequency of second malignancies. These cancers are most often bone tumors, and they occur in up to 8% of retinoblastoma patients after 18 years of follow-up.
Retinoblastoma is treated by surgery (enucleation), chemotherapy (vincristine, carboplatin, etoposide), cryotherapy, light coagulation, and radiation. The eye is spared whenever possible. "
We hope you'll Join us on Sunday September 24th for the second annual Sips For Sight, Benefiting the Foresight Fund for Retinoblastoma Research Through Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation in honor of our son James. We will have craft lemonade cocktails, delicious Red Hog Octoberfest food, live music by The Black Dog String Band, and raffles. You can make a donation here, or join us in person on the 24th!
Auction/Raffle Info:
We will have a small raffle basket on the day of the event, tickets will be available for purchase that day. The silent auction for the event is live and the link can be found here!
Update on James:
As many of you visiting this page may know, in April of 2022 our son James was diagnosed with the heritable form of Bilateral Retinoblastoma. James underwent chemotherapy treatment through the summer of 2023. Finally, after a long journey with a few bumps in the road, James had no evidence of disease (NED) in January of this year. We are still making trips to Cincinnati to check on things frequently, but James is THRIVING! We are beginning to learn more about the visual impairment James has in his left eye. Some of his favorite things are Jeeps, trucks and jumping into the pool next to his big sis Ella.
We have chosen to focus our fundraising efforts on RB research. Kiddos like James deserve to have less toxic, more targeted therapies to treat their cancer. Research is how we get there, and research is expensive! Since James has the RB1 gene, there is a 50% chance he will pass this disease to any biological children James has. Hopefully, with some hard work and lots of generosity from donors like you, by the time James is old enough to start a family of his own, there will be better treatment options available. We are so grateful for your support!
