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CNN Sunday Morning

Hollywood Actress Spreads Awareness About Rare Type of Cancer

Aired November 03, 2002 - 10:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: There are probably few things more frightening for parents than learning that their child has an illness that may be terminal. CNN health correspondent Kat Carney is here to tell us about a Hollywood actress who has experienced that exact kind of fear. Hi, Kat.
KAT CARNEY, CNN HEALTH CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. That's right, actress Hunter Tylo's baby was just weeks old when she noticed something wrong with her eyes. Tylo says she almost collapsed when she learned the diagnosis. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Actress Hunter Tylo is best known for her role on the fictional daytime drama "The Bold and the Beautiful."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL")

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She can go on from here and live a normal life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: Recently, she told me of her own real-life drama, the fight to save her newborn daughter Katya's eyesight from a rare but potentially fatal cancer.

(on camera): When did you first realize that there was a problem with her health?

HUNTER TYLO, ACTRESS: Within like two weeks, she was not a wonderful baby. She was crying, she was already showing signs of something that was painful.

CARNEY (voice-over): Thinking that Katya's crying was due to colic, Tylo and husband Michael delayed a visit to the doctor, despite another troubling event.

TYLO: And I looked down at her, and I saw something that looked strangely like milky white beneath the black part of the pupil. Something kind of like milky and glowing. And when she turned her head a little bit more, it made like a red flash, similar to a way a pet looks, you know, in headlights or something.

CARNEY: Tylo is describing a common characteristic in babies stricken with retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eye that annually afflicts 8,000 children worldwide. A doctor later confirmed the diagnosis and explained what was to follow.

TYLO: He told me that she would be getting surgery within four days to remove an eye if it was as bad as he, indeed, thought it was. And so he said that remaining eye, if we can save it, it's going to require some months of chemotherapy.

CARNEY (on camera): Was there ever that fear that you might lose your daughter?

TYLO: Oh, definitely. That was always there. I definitely knew that that was a danger. This cancer, it grows so rapidly that if one cell gets into the optic nerve, it will go directly to the brain. If it goes outside the globe of the eye, there's very little chance of saving the child.

CARNEY (voice-over): Fortunately, Katya was saved, but her right eye was not. Today, however, Tylo says her daughter is cancer-free and happy, but that wasn't enough for the outspoken actress. In addition to starting the Retinoblastoma Foundation in 1998 with her husband, she was successful in helping to pass a law in her home state of California.

TYLO: We knew about the hearing tests that were recently added to the law. So we wanted to do something for eyesight, so we did get a law passed.

CARNEY: For parents everywhere, Tylo offers this advice.

TYLO: The one thing I'd stress to parents more than anything is you cannot take your children's eyesight for granted. And anything you can do to get their eyes checked as early as possible, I would strongly advise it.

CARNEY: With early detection, retinoblastoma cases like Katya's can be successfully treated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARNEY: And it's very important to stress that while this cancer is highly treatable, it is crucial that there is early detection. Surgery must happen within the first three months of a baby's life, Heidi, if they're going to catch it and treat it in time.

COLLINS: Got to act fast. Well, along those lines, is there anything parents can look out for, in case they might notice something that would be standing out in the way of this type of cancer?

CARNEY: It's a great question, because frequently, the parents are the ones to first notice that there is something wrong. And the buzz words, the key words that they use are "g" words. Parents notice a glimmer, a glow, a glint in the child's eyes, and it normally happens in kind of dimmer light. Or if you take a picture of your baby, and you know, we always see that dreaded red-eye -- well, in babies, you want to see that red-eye. If you don't see two red reflections in a baby's eye or you're at church or at home and the lights are a little dimmer, and one eye has kind of a white flash or is even black, you absolutely want to call your doctor right away.

COLLINS: All right. Kat Carney, we do appreciate it. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Cancer>


Aired November 3, 2002 - 10:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: There are probably few things more frightening for parents than learning that their child has an illness that may be terminal. CNN health correspondent Kat Carney is here to tell us about a Hollywood actress who has experienced that exact kind of fear. Hi, Kat.
KAT CARNEY, CNN HEALTH CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. That's right, actress Hunter Tylo's baby was just weeks old when she noticed something wrong with her eyes. Tylo says she almost collapsed when she learned the diagnosis. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Actress Hunter Tylo is best known for her role on the fictional daytime drama "The Bold and the Beautiful."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL")

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She can go on from here and live a normal life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: Recently, she told me of her own real-life drama, the fight to save her newborn daughter Katya's eyesight from a rare but potentially fatal cancer.

(on camera): When did you first realize that there was a problem with her health?

HUNTER TYLO, ACTRESS: Within like two weeks, she was not a wonderful baby. She was crying, she was already showing signs of something that was painful.

CARNEY (voice-over): Thinking that Katya's crying was due to colic, Tylo and husband Michael delayed a visit to the doctor, despite another troubling event.

TYLO: And I looked down at her, and I saw something that looked strangely like milky white beneath the black part of the pupil. Something kind of like milky and glowing. And when she turned her head a little bit more, it made like a red flash, similar to a way a pet looks, you know, in headlights or something.

CARNEY: Tylo is describing a common characteristic in babies stricken with retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eye that annually afflicts 8,000 children worldwide. A doctor later confirmed the diagnosis and explained what was to follow.

TYLO: He told me that she would be getting surgery within four days to remove an eye if it was as bad as he, indeed, thought it was. And so he said that remaining eye, if we can save it, it's going to require some months of chemotherapy.

CARNEY (on camera): Was there ever that fear that you might lose your daughter?

TYLO: Oh, definitely. That was always there. I definitely knew that that was a danger. This cancer, it grows so rapidly that if one cell gets into the optic nerve, it will go directly to the brain. If it goes outside the globe of the eye, there's very little chance of saving the child.

CARNEY (voice-over): Fortunately, Katya was saved, but her right eye was not. Today, however, Tylo says her daughter is cancer-free and happy, but that wasn't enough for the outspoken actress. In addition to starting the Retinoblastoma Foundation in 1998 with her husband, she was successful in helping to pass a law in her home state of California.

TYLO: We knew about the hearing tests that were recently added to the law. So we wanted to do something for eyesight, so we did get a law passed.

CARNEY: For parents everywhere, Tylo offers this advice.

TYLO: The one thing I'd stress to parents more than anything is you cannot take your children's eyesight for granted. And anything you can do to get their eyes checked as early as possible, I would strongly advise it.

CARNEY: With early detection, retinoblastoma cases like Katya's can be successfully treated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARNEY: And it's very important to stress that while this cancer is highly treatable, it is crucial that there is early detection. Surgery must happen within the first three months of a baby's life, Heidi, if they're going to catch it and treat it in time.

COLLINS: Got to act fast. Well, along those lines, is there anything parents can look out for, in case they might notice something that would be standing out in the way of this type of cancer?

CARNEY: It's a great question, because frequently, the parents are the ones to first notice that there is something wrong. And the buzz words, the key words that they use are "g" words. Parents notice a glimmer, a glow, a glint in the child's eyes, and it normally happens in kind of dimmer light. Or if you take a picture of your baby, and you know, we always see that dreaded red-eye -- well, in babies, you want to see that red-eye. If you don't see two red reflections in a baby's eye or you're at church or at home and the lights are a little dimmer, and one eye has kind of a white flash or is even black, you absolutely want to call your doctor right away.

COLLINS: All right. Kat Carney, we do appreciate it. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Cancer>