Amy Cottingham, 29, had her eye surgically removed after a slightly blurry vision in one eye turned out to be a sign of ocular melanoma, a rare cancer. She was diagnosed earlier this year after an optician noticed something abnormal in her eye and referred her to hospital for further tests.
Due to the tumour's large size, Amy required an enucleation, the surgical removal of the eye. She said: "Before my diagnosis, I had an idea in my mind of what cancer was. I would typically picture someone older, someone who is really unwell and looks sick, but now I know that that’s not necessarily what cancer is."
A Rare Diagnosis at a Young Age
Only 750 people are diagnosed with ocular melanoma in the UK every year, according to Ocular Melanoma UK. The average age at which an ocular melanoma develops is 55–60 years old, making Amy's case unusual.
Amy said because of her age, her worries and fears are very different to older people in the same position. She added: "With it being such a rare cancer and being so young, particularly when the average age of diagnosis of this cancer is in the 60s, there’s an unfairness to it."
First Signs and Diagnosis
Amy first noticed a subtle shift in her eyesight when she was doing her makeup for a wedding in May this year. She said: "I was doing false eyelashes on my right eye and noticed that with just my left eye open, my vision was slightly blurry. However, my vision felt completely normal and fine with both eyes open."
She booked an opticians appointment for July, thinking the worst news she would receive would be that she needed glasses. The optician noticed macular thickening with intraretinal cysts, which is typically associated with people aged 60/70 plus, and referred her to the ophthalmology department at King's Hospital.
When a "crescent shadow" began to appear over her left eye, her partner's mother, who is a nurse, urged Amy to attend eye casualty rather than wait for her scheduled appointment. Amy initially suspected diabetes, given her family history, but was shocked when the doctor suggested there could be a tumour in her eye.
Surgery and Recovery
Amy's ocular melanoma diagnosis was officially confirmed at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London on July 23. The oncologist revealed that the only treatment option was to remove the whole eye. She was originally scheduled for surgery on August 24, but after pushing for an earlier date, she had the enucleation 14 days earlier.
Since the tumour was contained to her eye, she didn't need radiation treatment, and all follow-up scans have found no further evidence of the disease so far. Six weeks after her surgery, Amy was given a prosthetic eye.
She is now training for the Brighton Marathon, which takes place on April 4 next year, to raise money and increase awareness for Ocular Melanoma UK. She said: "I had never even heard about ocular melanoma before my diagnosis. I know that this type of cancer is very under-researched and underfunded because there’s less of us, but that doesn’t mean that our lives are any less important."
