Tot’s cancer leads to eye removal

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- A Council Bluffs girl who was diagnosed with cancer as a baby is finally getting some relief.

Liv Loghry, 1, was diagnosed with retinoblastoma at only 3 months. Retinoblastoma is a rare disease that generally affects children under the age of 6.

When Liv was not quite 3 months old, her mother, Jessica Loghry, noticed that her right eye was sluggish and started seeing “through” her pupil to something flesh-colored. She kept watching the eye and became increasingly concerned.

In July, Jessica Loghry called Liv’s pediatrician. The doctor referred them to a pediatric ophthalmologist. Within hours, Loghry received “the worst news a mother could be told about their baby” Liv had a tumor.

That night, Liv was admitted to Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha to prepare for an MRI the next morning. The MRI confirmed that she had a tumor in her right eye, but that it had not gone into the optic nerve leading into her brain. Doctors recommended Dr. Carole Shields, a physician at Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia.

After an examination that included dilating, examining and poking Liv’s eyes, Shields said that, because of the tumor’s size, she recommended that Liv have her eye removed. She had the Loghrys go to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to meet with an oncologist and learn more about childhood cancer.

Liv’s surgery was performed July 30 on an outpatient basis.

The next day, the family flew home and waited for healing to begin. After six weeks, they flew back to Philadelphia for checkups by Shields and the oncologist. Everything looked good, so Liv’s first prosthetic eye was created. She will probably have to have three or four new prosthetic eyes made for her by the time she turns 18.

Since the removal of her right eye, Liv has had two surgeries to unclog her right tear duct.

The family will go back to Philadelphia at the end of May to have Shields examine her eyes and to meet with her other doctors for evaluation. She also has an oncologist at Children’s Hospital in Omaha who will see her every six months and evaluate her MRIs.

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