In October 2023, our world was completely rocked. We noticed an odd white glow in our 2-year-old son Logan’s right pupil and scheduled an appointment at the pediatrician. Confirming there was something to investigate, he referred us to a pediatric ophthalmologist who we saw two days later. And within 2 hours of that appointment start time, we were sitting in Ophthalmology at Boston Children’s receiving the news that Logan had a rare and aggressive pediatric eye cancer called retinoblastoma.
Retinoblastoma typically affects children under the age of five, though most commonly under the age of two. Roughly 20,000 children worldwide are diagnosed each year, of which 300 are here in the US. Three hundred. And Logan was one of them.
Five days after receiving his diagnosis, knowing his tumor was quite large with complete retinal detachment, and after numerous tests, scans, conversations, questions, results, days and nights on the oncology floor, we made the incredibly difficult decision to remove Logan’s right eye. And on 10/23/23, Logan was cancer-free.
The last year has been a category 5 tornado for our family—a journey of disbelief, fear, anguish, hope, faith, and action. A constant asking of “why?” knowing we will never have the answer. Making decisions as parents you hope to never have to make. We’re overjoyed and ever so grateful to say that we received the best news possible now on the other side—a cancer-free result—and there’s still maintenance care and so much healing to do as a family.
Logan is the most active, independent, joyful, funny, curious, and loving now 3-year-old. He hasn’t skipped a beat with his enucleation and is thriving across the board. He received his prosthetic eye that perfectly matches his left one in January, and you’d truly never know what he and all of us have been through.
We are indebted to the fantastic Ophthalmology, Ocular Oncology, and Pediatric Oncology Solid Tumor teams, the many nurses, and family support staff at Boston Children’s Hospital, with most special thanks to Dr. Efren Gonzalez, Dr. Riaz Gillani, and Dr. Michael Gundry who we can honestly say saved Logan’s life. We recognize how fortunate we are to live near the best children’s hospital in the world where there is a specialty program to treat retinoblastoma. And we are ever thankful to our families and close support system that went above and beyond for us in so many ways. Thank you will never be enough.
We have partnered with the Ophthalmology department to fundraise specifically to support their fellowship program, which brings on a practicing doctor wishing to undergo additional specialty clinical training, education, and research within the Ophthalmology and Ocular Oncology practices. Our hope is to help more physicians to specialize in retinoblastoma and other eye cancers to help have the greatest impact in treating more children like Logan and to hopefully one day find a way to test for retinoblastoma earlier.
Your support to help us make this possible means the world to us and to Logan. We are so, so grateful to have been able to diagnosis and treat his cancer swiftly and it’s thanks to the skilled teams at Boston Children’s and Dana Farber Cancer Institute who gave us every confidence that Logan was in the best hands possible.
With love,
Andrew, Erika, Logan & Hunter
