How a routine trip to the opticians revealed 26-year-old had a cancerous tumor on her EYEBALL

A Massachusetts woman was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer after a routine visit to her ophthalmologist.

Eleanor Levine, who was 26 at the time, was being tested to see if she needed reading glasses when doctors discovered a large tumor on her retina.

“At first I was in complete panic,” she said. ‘I don’t even wear glasses regularly. I figured my reading glasses prescription just needed a minor update.”

“I haven’t noticed any symptoms.”

Ms. Levine’s case is just one of many in a mysterious rise of cancer in young people, namely diseases such as colon and appendiceal cancer.

Ocular melanoma affects only five or six in a million Americans. It arises from melanocytes, which give color to the skin and eyes

She was diagnosed with ocular melanoma, a form of cancer that develops from melanocytes, cells that produce melanin – a pigment that gives skin, hair and eyes their color.

Although melanoma usually affects the skin and looks like brown moles, melanocytes can also be found in the eyes.

Ocular melanoma can affect any part of the eye, although it is most commonly found in the middle layer of the eyeball, the uvea, which contains the colored part of the eye known as the iris.

Symptoms include a change in the shape or size of the pupil, changes in the position or movements of the eyeball, bulging eyes, dark spots on the iris, flashing lights in your field of vision, and blurred vision.

Ms. Levine’s symptoms were so subtle that she didn’t notice them until she spoke to her doctor. “I had some vision loss around the edges of my left eye and I had some headaches in the left side,” she said.

“I haven’t noticed any symptoms at all before this.”

Although nearly 100,000 Americans are diagnosed with melanoma each year, uveal melanoma is much rarer, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Doctors found a large tumor in Ms. Levine’s left eye, which has caused her to lose about half her vision

Ms. Levine’s current scans show no sign of cancer, although she will need to continue treatment for five years to slow vision loss

According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), approximately 3,500 adults in the US were diagnosed with the disease in 2023. The estimated incidence is about five to six per million people.

Although people who are white or have light-colored eyes are at greater risk for uveal melanoma, doctors aren’t sure what causes Ms. Levine’s case.

“In some ways it also felt like a cruel joke from the universe; “I was always a worrier and a hypochondriac with an irrational fear of cancer,” she said.

“There’s nothing I’ve done or been exposed to that has caused this. For whatever reason, this makes everything harder to grapple with. Why did this happen to me?’

“I woke up in the morning and thought it was all a dream.”

‘Those were the darkest moments. It felt like I was looking through a black tunnel.’

In November 2022, doctors began treating Ms. Levine with proton beam therapy. This is a type of radiation that uses molecules called protons instead of X-rays. The goal is to target tumors more directly without damaging surrounding tissues.

Since beginning treatment, Ms. Levine’s scans show no sign of cancer. However, she will have to continue treatment for another five years, including receiving eye injections to slow and prevent further vision loss.

So far, she has lost about half the vision in her left eye.

Ms. Levine’s case is just one of many in a mysterious rise in cancer cases in young people. For example, doctors have warned that deaths from bowel cancer in people under 40 are expected to double by 2030.

In addition, the number of cases of appendiceal cancer has increased by more than 200 percent in the past twenty years.

“I still have difficult moments and nights where I cry myself to sleep, afraid of what the future holds,” Ms. Levine said. ‘Sometimes I’m angry, even furious, that this happened to me.’

“Being a young person with cancer has been very alienating, especially with a rare form of cancer that virtually no one has ever heard of.”

However, she also noted that the experience has made her more grateful and reminded her not to take anything for granted.

“It’s a lesson in staying present, staying in the moment,” she said.

“The most difficult obstacle to overcome is breaking the false belief that my future was somehow predictable.”

“I think most people (especially young people) convince themselves of this, but it’s not true.”

“We have no idea what could happen to us, good or bad, and it’s clearer to me now than ever.”