One day, Tara Taylor posted a photo of her 3-year-old little girl, Rylee, on Facebook. She had fixed Rylee's hair like a princess' and wanted to show off the style.
Then two of her friends noticed a frightening detail: Rylee's left eye was glowing. Tara assumed it was just the camera's flash, but her friends wanted Tara to be safe.
"They said 'Hey, I'm sure it's nothing. It's probably the lighting, but your daughter's eye is glowing and you might want to have it checked out because it's a sign there could be an issue with her eye,'" said Tara.
She took Ryle to the pediatrician and then to a retina specialist. Rylee was promptly diagnosed with Coats' disease, a rare condition that can cause one eye to lose vision or become totally blind.
Glowing eyes aren't just indicative of potential blindness; for Julia Fitzgerald, her son's glowing eye revealed he had cancer.
Dr. Jorge Calzada with the Charles Retina Institute and Baptist Eye Clinic said the earlier they can treat children, the better. Since Rylee is just 3 years old, her outlook is pretty good. "The significant problem we have with children is that a child won't say, 'Mommy, I can't see out of my right eye.' It is usually caught in an expected way," he said.
Tara had no idea her daughter was having difficulty seeing. "She didn't sit close to the TV. She is actually in gymnastics and can walk on the balance beam," she said.
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