'We noticed there was something wrong when we looked in our son's eyes'

A young boy was given a devastating diagnosis after his parents noticed his eye was "wobbling".

Parents Miriam and Colin Eckworth took their son, Zac, then 14 months, to the GP after they spotted his eye was moving in an unusual way. After visiting an eye clinic and experts at A&E, having an MRI scan and more checks he was diagnosed with an optic nerve glioma - a slow growing brain tumour.

They are found in or around the optic nerve which connects the eye to the brain. Zac's was confirmed to be non-cancerous and he was referred to specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, the week after his diagnosis.

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The youngster had to undergo several rounds of chemotherapy and his tumour remained stable for nine months. Unfortunately, though, it kept growing and more rounds of chemotherapy were necessary.

Zac, now 11, has been battling his tumour ever since and is currently part of a drug trial to shrink it. Miriam, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, said: “This was a very difficult time for the family.

"It was hard for Zac, and it was hard for us to see him unable to be a child. Our daughter has just been born as well, and we knew the difficulties that chemotherapy would bring for Zac. Zac has a good quality of life, which allows him to recover emotionally from what he experienced in his younger years."

Shortly after his diagnosis, his tumour was biopsied and was found to have a BRAF-V600E mutation which activates the MAPK signalling pathway - leading to cells dividing uncontrollably and tumour growth. Zac's medical team put him on a drug trial with Dabrafenib - an anti-cancer medication - and he responded well.

Miriam