World Eye Cancer Hope (WE C Hope) USA is hosting an Online Auction through Giving Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. PST on Tuesday, December 1 to raise money for our Retinoblastoma (Rb) community!

Join us this fall to bid on a variety of incredible prizes and experiences, with all proceeds going towards WE C Hope's highlighted causes. Some of our fantastic prizes include:

$100 Trader Joe's Gift Card
Signed Warwick Bass Guitar from System Of A Down Bassist Shavo Odadjian
Private In-Home Wine Sampling Experience
Two Unlimited Ride Wristbands for the Santa Monica Pier
Custom 16x20 Luxury Wall Portrait Session
Two Rounds of Golf for Two Players Each in Oceanside, California
One Year of Online Piano Lessons
Plus jewelry and many more items!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE AUCTION!

Read on to discover how your proceeds will help WE C Hope better and benefit the retinoblastoma community!

Child Life Programming

What Is Child Life and Why Does It Matter?

Eye cancer is a potentially overwhelming experience for young children, whether patient or sibling. Child Life programming can radically improve care and life for the entire family.

Child Life helps children and their caregivers manage stressful experiences, giving them the best possible quality of life during treatment and beyond. Whatever the child’s age or stage of treatment, Child Life interventions can significantly enhance medical care and well-being for everyone in the family. They can also make things a lot easier for the medical professionals providing care.

When children cannot actively engage with their care, they can become quickly overwhelmed by their experiences. Procedures often take longer, requiring more personnel and sedation. Distressed children are less able to cope with pain and strong emotions. The negative impacts of their diagnosis and its treatment increase, and their well-being declines.

Child Life promotes effective coping through play, preparation, education, and self-expression activities based on natural child development. Play is a distraction during procedures and a learning tool that enables the child to prepare for and be involved in their care. Play and self-expression activities help carers assess a child’s pain and emotional state, identify anxieties and fears, provide targeted supports, and teach coping skills.

To learn more about Child Life in Retinoblastoma care, visit: https://wechope.org/child-life/child-life-in-retinoblastoma-care/.

Child Life Programming Activities Include: A nine-photo collage of children participating in medical play. Young boys and girls wear nurse scrubs and use medical tools to perform check ups on stuffed animals and puppets.

Medical Play: This allows children a safe and fun way to familiarize themselves with medical materials in a non-threatening way, to practice routine procedures, and gain mastery over their own medical experiences – all while having loads of fun with other kids who share their experiences.
Giving Stuffed Animals Eye Drops: This positive experience helps children minimize their anxiety. With new confidence and a sense of control over their fear, some older children even progress to putting water drops or artificial tears in their own eyes.
Sensory Play: This includes activities that stimulate children’s senses through touch, smell, taste, movement, balance, sight, and hearing. Fun, interactive sensory activities include making slime, creating musical instruments using recycled materials, and a blindfolded tasting station to learn about how taste buds work (sour, sweet, bitter). All these activities naturally encourage children to be curious, explore, and use scientific processes while they play, create, and investigate.
Eye-Themed Art Activities: This can include collage posters, gift bag decoration, photo/video art, papier-mâché, and clay creations, in addition to the ever-popular coloring station. Arts and crafts focused on the eyes open up opportunities for conversation with children about their experiences with retinoblastoma treatment, prosthetic eyes, sight, and the many impacts on their lives.

WE C Hope USA makes an effort to offer Child Life programming led by a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) at Retinoblastoma community events, such as Rb Family Days and One Retinoblastoma World (One Rb World) conferences. WE C Hope's CCLS, Morgan Livingstone, was a tremendous light and fantastic presenter at the 8th One Rb World conference held this past September in San Antonio, Texas! We are incredibly grateful for her invaluable place on our team and will continue to prioritize her presence at Rb community gatherings!

To learn more about WE C Hope Child Life programming, visit: https://wechope.org/child-life/child-life-programs/.

A nine-photo collage displaying children participating in collaborative games. At various in-person and online gatherings, children join together to play giant board games, complete art activities, and play with sensory fidget toys.

A nine-photo collage displaying children making arts and crafts. Each activity is eye-themed, including drawing a prosthetic eye, making a cloth doll, and creating a positive message banner.

Early Detection Campaigns

What Is Early Detection and Why Does It Matter?

A baby with light brown skin and dark brown curly hair wears a light blue onesie and sits in a dark blue play chair with colorful alphabet letters on it. The baby smiles with an open mouth and there is a golden glow coming from the pupil of his right brown eye.

Early diagnosis of retinoblastoma and related second primary cancers is crucial to save lives and give the best chance of preserving children’s vision. Despite advances in treatment, delayed diagnosis remains a prominent barrier to effective care and best outcomes worldwide.

Early detection of warning signs is a key step towards early diagnosis. Early detection involves identifying potential signs of disease, while early diagnosis confirms the presence of the disease through clinical evaluation and testing. Primary care providers form the critical bridge from suspicion that something is wrong to specialist investigation.

Primary care providers are often the first point of contact for concerned parents and survivors. Their ability to recognize the subtle signs of retinoblastoma and second primary cancers, coupled with their willingness to refer promptly for specialist care, makes a life-changing difference.

By closing the gap between initial observation and definitive diagnosis, primary care providers ensure timely intervention, which is crucial for the patient’s optimal outcomes.

To learn more about early detection in Retinoblastoma care, visit: https://wechope.org/awareness/early-detection-saves-lives-primary-care-retinoblastoma-and-second-cancers/.

WE C Hope's Early Detection Campaign: The Arclight Ophthalmoscope

In many parts of the world, children with retinoblastoma face life-threatening delays in diagnosis and treatment due to limited awareness and access to primary eye healthcare. The Arclight ophthalmoscope is a game-changer: portable, solar-powered, and affordable, this handheld early detection device empowers frontline healthcare workers to identify early signs of retinoblastoma and other potentially blinding eye diseases, enabling timely referral for life-saving care.

To learn more about the Arclight and donate in support of WE C Hope's mission to bring Arclights to countries in need, visit: https://givebutter.com/arclight.

Arclight in Action

For more information about crucial eye exams for children and how the Arclight helps, the power of early detection, and our triangulated partnership with the Arclight Project and KnowTheGlow, please explore the following video and articles:

Arclight in 60 Seconds

“The Arclight and Fundal Reflex Test: Shining the Light on Retinoblastoma”

Dr. Andrew Blaikie, ophthalmologist and clinical lead for the Arclight Project at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, describes the importance of screening children’s eyes with the Fundal Red Reflex test and how the Arclight improves eye health access and outcomes for children with eye cancer around the world.

“Pearls of Light: The Pathway to Retinoblastoma Early Detection”

KnowTheGlow co-founder, Megan Webber, and WE C Hope USA President, Marissa D. Gonzalez, discuss how our early detection partnership with the Arclight Project evolved, and provide an update on the progress we are making for children in Africa and Asia.

Retinoblastoma Community Events

A group photo from the pre-conference social gathering held before the 2024 One Rb World conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii. About 60 guests pose smiling in front of a Waikiki Trolley bus. A green mountain fills the background.

When your life is turned upside down by the diagnosis of aggressive childhood eye cancer, meeting others who know and understand your journey is a priceless gift. In-person support specific to the needs of children, families, and survivors affected by retinoblastoma is much needed, but very rare.

WE C Hope-organized Retinoblastoma community events such as online webinars, Family Days, and One Retinoblastoma World provide fun, friendship, knowledge, and hope. Events organized in collaboration with medical programs often include educational talks, facilitated discussion groups, and collaborative workshops for parents, adolescent and adult survivors. The learning and shared experience create stronger, more knowledgeable, and confident healthcare advocates.

WE C Hope is celebrating the success of our 8th One Retinoblastoma World conference, which took place this September in San Antonio, Texas! In anticipation of this year's One Rb World blog, please explore guest and board member experiences found in our multi-part blog from the 2024 conference in Honolulu, Hawaii: https://wechope.org/one-rb-world/hawaii-says-aloha-to-the-7th-one-rb-world-conference-and-our-global-retinoblastoma-community/.

To learn more about WE C Hope Retinoblastoma community events, visit: https://wechope.org/rbevents/.

Upcoming WE C Hope Community Events Include:

The Power of Narrative in an Uncertain World - A Reflective Webinar for Eye Cancer Survivors, Their Families, and the Professionals Who Treat Them
- Please join us Thursday, November 5 at 4 p.m. PDT / 7 p.m. EST for a free one-hour webinar with Carolyn Roy-Bornstein, M.D., pediatrician, narrative medicine facilitator, and author of the book A Prescription for Burnout: Restorative Writing for Healthcare Professionals. Carolyn has led reflective writing workshops for medical professionals, patients, and family caregivers all over the world and prides herself in creating safe spaces that invite sharing and healing.
- When we or our loved ones are ill or injured, the world can be a scary place – full of uncertainty and anxiety. We are in unfamiliar environments. We lack agency. Clinicians also operate with ambiguity. A diagnosis may not be clear; treatment may not go as planned; eye-salvage may not be an option; cure may not be possible. Reflective writing is an evidence-based technique that can help us all feel more empowered, process our emotions and reactions to this uncertainty, and make meaning of new situations.
- To register, visit: https://givebutter.com/reflectivewriting.
Philadelphia Retinoblastoma Family Day
- Join us for Philadelphia Retinoblastoma Family Day at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia this Saturday, December 5, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST. Meet and socialize with kids and adults at various stages of their Rb journey. This day is designed for patients, survivors, friends, families, and medical professionals to connect and build lasting relationships. This event is hosted in conjunction with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Retinoblastoma Service.
- Our agenda includes lunch, educational sessions, activities, Child Life programming for all children in attendance, and a panel discussion including renowned retinoblastoma specialists Dr. Carol L. Shields and Dr. Ann Leahey.
- Kindly RSVP by Saturday, November 28, using this link: https://givebutter.com/philly2026. Registration is $25 per family for up to two (2) adults and four (4) children. If this cost presents a hardship, please contact Marissa Gonzalez at marissa@wechope.org.

World Eye Cancer Hope USA Online Auction

Benefitting Children, Survivors, and Families of Retinoblastoma