Red spot in dad's eye turns out to be sign of rare cancer
A dad has shared his shock at being diagnosed with a rare cancer after noticing a red spot in his right eye.
After googling what the mark could be Tony Brown, 63, a council worker, from Morecambe, Lancashire, initially assumed it was just a popped blood vessel.
But his daughter Suzie Brown, 39, and the rest of his family were concerned so Tony made an appointment at the opticians in February earlier this year.
There he was told he likely had a detached retina – when the thin layer at the back of your eye becomes loose – before being transferred to Lancaster Hospital.
A scan and ultrasound followed before Tony was once again transferred first to Lancashire Eye Hospital, Chorley and then to the Royal Liverpool University.
It was there he was diagnosed with ocular melanoma – an extremely rare form of cancer.
"I was devastated when I got the diagnosis," Tony says of the life changing moment.
"You always hear about people getting cancer but you never think it will happen to you."
Daughter Suzie, who works in insurance, from Morecambe, said: "When he went to Lancaster hospital they did some scans and said he would need to be transferred to Lancashire Eye Hospital.
"I drove him to Chorley the next day where he had several scans, ultrasound and imaging.
"The doctors said they would need to transfer him to the oncology unit in Liverpool and when you hear that you automatically think the worst."
Suzie drove her dad to Liverpool on 4 March, 2024, where he was diagnosed with ocular melanoma and told they would need to remove the tumour and his entire right eye.
"It was just shocking," Suzie says of the moment she learnt of her dad's cancer. "We were devastated and very worried.
"We were broken by it all at the time but also hopeful as they were taking out the eye and the tumour."
The following day, Tony had an operation to remove the eye and tumour, which was successful.
"He was in hospital for three days," Suzie adds. "They did an ultrasound which didn't show anything on his liver which was great as doctors said that his liver would be the first place the cancer would spread."
When he left hospital, Tony was told he would need routine MRIs to monitor whether the cancer had returned, but in April 2024 an MRI showed small tumours in his liver.
"We were given the absolutely earth shattering news that without treatment he has months to live," Suzie says.
"Dad has found it difficult to comprehend.
"He is not ready for this to be the end and he wants to fight this."
Doctors told Tony that while there isn't anything they can do for him, they recommend chemo saturation – a non-surgical treatment for cancer of the liver.
The treatment is not available on the NHS but is available privately at a cost of £40,000 per round.
So Tony's family are trying to raise £120k for the life changing treatment.
"Some people have lived past five years on it," Suzie says. "Some have had their cancer eradicated.
"It truly is a miracle treatment."
As Tony's type of cancer is so rare, Suzie says there hasn't been as much research or funding, which means there are very limited options for patients who have it.
Speaking about those who have donated, Tony says: "I am amazed at the generosity I've had so far from family, friends and even people I don't know.
"I hope that this treatment will give me more time with my family."
What is ocular melanoma?
According to Melanoma UK ocular melanoma (or OM) is cancer of the eye. It is different to skin melanoma and is not said to be related to sun exposure.
Also known as uveal melanoma, it affects between 500 and 600 patients in the UK every year, which makes it very rare.
Unfortunately, around half of all patients may go on to develop tumours in other organs, particularly the liver.
While OM does not always have symptoms, so often diagnosed at routine eye examinations, some patients do report some signs including:
blurred vision or gradual progressive loss of vision
seeing flashing lights and shadows
discolouration to the white area of the eye
appearance of a black patch in the periphery of vision
a change in the shape or size of the pupil
an increase of floaters across your vision
dark area growing on the iris
pain
All of the symptoms of uveal melanoma can be caused by other more common conditions, so it is important to have any potential symptoms checked by your optometrist or GP.
If caught early enough there are some treatments, which have the potential to extend life expectancy and improve quality of life and some new treatments are showing great promise.
Unfortunately once the disease has spread it is very difficult to treat, especially when there is liver involvement.
If you have any suspicion that you may have any issues at all, do arrange to be checked over.
For more support or information about OM visit OcuMel UK.
Additional reporting SWNS.
Read more about cancer and treatments:
Breast cancer symptoms: 300,000 women to be offered drug to slash risk of the disease (Yahoo Life UK, 7-min read)
Symptoms of UK’s most common cancer types as cases soar in under 50s (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
Little girl’s ‘purple spots’ turned out to be sign of cancer (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
