A single mother has spoken out about her son's ordeal with eye cancer, urging people to be on alert for the signs.

The 23-month-old son of Weybridge mother Jennie developed tumours in both eyes and is now in the middle of six cycles of chemotherapy to save his remaining eye.

Had Jennie not been persistent his treatment could have been delayed by several months.

She claimed her concerns were not taken seriously by her GP, who referred him for lazy eye, and five Weybridge opticians all declined to examine him.

She even claimed she was informed by staff at Boots that they did not see children under four because they “don’t have problems with their eyes”.

Jennie then took him to the nearest paediatric accident and emergency, which referred him immediately to the special retinoblastoma centre at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.

Retinoblastoma is a tumour that occurs in the retina and affects children under the age of five.
The first sign of the condition is often a white pupil that does not reflect light (leucocoria).

This could be detected when a picture of your child is taken using a flash, and may look white in the photograph.

Children may have a squint, or if the tumour is large, they may have a painful red eye.

Treatments include cryotherapy, laser therapy, plaque, thermotherapy, chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.