Thursday, August 28, 2008

Technology saving lives

I was watching the Today Show this morning and saw a story about two young mothers, one here in the US, and the other in England. They first met online through chat on a pregnancy Web site, BabyFit.com, when they were both expecting. Their respective daughters, Rowan Santos and Lileth Robb, were born on the same day last August, spurring a continuing friendship through regular e-mails and photo-sharing.

When Santos posted a photo of 1-year-old Rowan on the Web site, her friend noticed a white shadow in the baby’s left eye.

Robb found the image curious, so she did some research on the Web. She learned that the white area could be a symptom of an eye cancer called retinoblastoma.

From her home in England, Robb sent a concerned e-mail to Santos. Immediately, Santos made an appointment with Rowan's doctor. A series of tests revealed Rowan did have a cancerous tumor growing on her retina.

Little Rowan will survive this cancer because a friend hundreds of miles away saw the symptom on an online picture! Personally, it is stories like this that make me realize the technology used to share and communicate can sometimes go far beyond "fun". It can actually save lives!

1 comment:

Pixelwiki said...

There ya go....a good reason for us to be aware and give it a chance. Nice blog! Your puppy is so cute. -pixelwiki-