Charity was there for us when Arla got a tumour in her eye

Our Xmas Appeal cause helps tot's struggling family

- FLORENCE FREEMAN, ZAHRA KHALIQ

WHEN mum Joanna Laughland took her baby Arla for an eye test, she was expecting the appointment to be routine.

She knew the one-year-old had a squint, while a white glow showed up in her left eye in photos.

But as her husband also had a squint as a child, she assumed Arla's problem could easily be solved.

So she wasn't prepared at all for the ophthalmologist's devastating diagnosis that Arla had a large tumour and would probably have to have her eye removed.

Joanna, 29, said: "I was in shock. I'd gone on my own because I thought it was a basic eye check." Last December, doctors told her and husband Nicky, 30, that Arla had retinoblastoma - a rare and aggressive form of eye cancer found in babies and children.