A woman who told colleagues the office lights were flickering, though no one else could see it, has spoken out after being diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer. Lara Vivo, 41, first noticed the issue during work meetings in around March 2019, but an eye test led to an emergency referral and a diagnosis of uveal melanoma, a malignant cancer in the eye's uvea.
From Eye Test to Emergency Referral
Lara initially put the flickering lights down to stress, but visited an optician thinking she might need glasses. Instead, she was referred straight to an emergency eye unit at a hospital, where tests revealed the cancer. She later flew from her home in Bournemouth to see a private specialist in Barcelona, who found a 1cm tumour on her right eye that had caused her retina to detach, leading to the flashing lights and headaches.
Lara, originally from Valencia, Spain, underwent three surgeries in Barcelona costing £30,000, aimed at destroying the tumour and preventing the cancer from spreading. The operations left her with just 10% vision in that eye, but she was believed to be cancer-free for the following seven years.
Cancer Returns in the Liver
In January this year, doctors found the cancer had metastasised in her liver, and it was deemed incurable. NHS doctors told Lara and her partner, Roy Bettencourt, 61, that there was no NHS-funded treatment available for her. She is now fundraising for £120,000 of private chemosaturation therapy, a targeted chemotherapy delivered by needle directly into the liver, which is not available on the NHS due to limited research and cost-effectiveness concerns.
Lara, a supermarket store assistant, told Talk to the Press: "I had this funny vision at work but I couldn't explain it, it just didn't feel right. Everyone else said the lights hadn't bothered them at all. I went for this eye test and I was shocked to be referred straight to the emergency eye unit. Even then, I never thought it was serious - I just thought I needed glasses."
Diagnosis and Treatment Journey
She added: "So when the consultant told me it was cancer, it was like a stab in the heart. I had three operations over six months where I had to move back to Spain and live with my family, leaving behind my partner and dog."
Lara's vision issues first started in early 2019, and she struggled to pinpoint the exact problems beyond "flickering lighting". She asked colleagues after a meeting if the lighting bothered them, but they said it didn't. After seeing an advert for a free eye test on Facebook, she went, thinking she needed glasses, but the optician referred her to the emergency eye unit at Royal Bournemouth Hospital, where a consultant diagnosed uveal melanoma.
The operation comprised three separate surgeries over six months to reattach the retina, remove half the tumour, and apply a radioactive plaque to attack the remaining cancer, which was later removed. The surgeries left her with 10% vision in that eye but with hope the cancer was gone.
Fundraising for Treatment
Seven years on, Lara and Roy, a firefighter, had discussed getting married and starting a family. But in January, a scheduled MRI scan revealed the cancer had spread to her liver. She said: "I had originally been told I was a high risk for metastases in the liver, but by now I thought maybe I was fine. But as of March 2026, I am considered stage four terminal."
Because of the rarity of uveal melanoma, the NHS's Clinical Commissioning Policy of 2016 for chemosaturation states there isn't enough evidence of success to support making the procedure available on the NHS. It reads: "No studies were identified of high quality to draw firm conclusions on the safety of the procedure in patients with liver metastasis from ocular melanoma. No cost-effectiveness studies were identified to comment on the cost-effectiveness of this procedure."
Lara is fundraising via GoFundMe to cover the cost of a round of three £40,000-a-go treatments at Southampton General Hospital. She said: "I've been given a grim diagnosis but I've been researching and I'm not giving up, I want to live. These seven years it's just been appointments, cancer, hospitals. We had planned to get married, and maybe have children. It will never happen now. It's ruined my life. I don't look ill, but I'm fighting for my life now. And this cancer is persistent, but I'm not giving up. If you're sensing something is wrong with your eye, get it checked."
