Local Girl Still Smiles After Losing Eye To Cancer

Kendra Schmidt is a normal 6-year-old from Levittown. However, she is separated from most kids her age by a fight with cancer over the last year.

Kendra was diagnosed with Retino Blastoma, a rare form of cancer which manifests in the eye. Last week was Retino Blastoma Awareness Week, and although she is back at doing normal 6-year-old things like playing softball and going to school, she has had a tumultuous past year.

When Kendra was about 3, Kelli Buck, Kendra’s mom, noticed that her daughter’s left eye would drift when she tried focusing on something. Buck took Kendra to the eye doctor, who chalked the drift up to a weak eye. In time, the eye would strengthen and that drift should disappear. It didn’t, though. Time went on and headaches started coming more frequently for Kendra.

Buck took Kendra to the hospital when she was swatting at things that weren’t really there. Kendra had begun to go blind in one eye. The emergency room and pediatricians dismissed the claims as Schmidt needing glasses. Buck forced an appointment with an opthamologist in Bryn Mawr, who found  mass in Kendra’s eye.

The fight for a diagnosis culminated at Wills Eye Surgery Center, where the diagnosis, Retino Blastoma finally came to fruition. Most common in infants up to 3-years-old, most doctors dismissed Kendra as being too old to get the childhood cancer. By the time the cancer was discovered, there was a two centimeter tumor on Kendra’s retna.

After months of different types of chemotherapy to combat the cancer, the only remaining viable option was the removal of Kendra’s left eye.

“She just walks around with the biggest smile on her face, she never once even cried about it,” Buck explained.

Although the eye removal was less than a month ago, Kendra seems back to normal. Now, Kendra is back to doing the normal things a girl does, according to Buck.

Now, Buck is an advocate of raising money for childhood cancer research. Last year, she hosted a fundraiser and raised $5,000 for childhood cancer research. This year, they hope to raise $10,000. The fundraiser is scheduled for September 9 at Indian Creek Park.

“There is a cure, not only for Retino Blastoma, but for all childhood cancer,” Buck said. “She lost her eye to cancer, but she didn’t lose her life.”

Buck says that new parents need to get doctors to check their kids’ eyes. Only about 250 to 300 kids are diagnosed with Retino Blastoma, so Buck argues that doctors may be less likely to acknowledge it at first.

“Push for it, fight for your child, you are their voice,” Buck said. “Something so devastating has happened to our family, and if we can help another family avoid this heartache, then it is worth it.”