Displaying unusual abilities after birth may hint at some hidden risks.
Ethan was born with an extraordinary condition, mirror hands or both hands copying each other's actions or the inability of moving each hand independently without the other imitating the same, Daily Mail reported. His parents, curious to know the reasons behind the condition, sought medical help. As part of the treatment, he was subjected to MRI scan and doctors detected cancerous tumors growing behind his left eye.
"Ethan has been through so much treatment to save him, but thankfully the doctors have finally managed to successfully treat all the tumours," Ethan's mother Orme told Daily Mail. "It is so lucky that he was born with mirror hands, as if it hadn't been for the scan that doctors were doing to try and establish the cause, then his tumour may not have been found until it was too late. Ethan's mirror hands have ended up saving his life."
Ethan started displaying this rare condition at four months. However, doctors couldn't figure out a reason behind the occurrence until he turned two and began experiencing problems to feed himself.
"He would be holding the bowl, but then when the spoon was placed in his other hand and he tried to lift it to his mouth, his other hand would lift too so he would pour out the contents of the bowl," Ethan's mother, a nursery nurse told Daily Mail. "It was so frustrating for him. He would tip yoghurts and bowls of baby food all over himself because his hands wouldn't move independently."
Orme took him to a new GP. Finding something wrong with the rare condition,he referred the boy to a pediatrician at Epsom Hospital in Surrey and another neurologist. During an MRI scan conducted in 2010, doctors detected the boy with retinoblastoma, a malignant tumor that affects retina, the light-detecting tissue of eye.
Through a series of treatments, doctors were able to return the boy to a healty lifestyle. Ethan, who does not have sight in his left eye, started going to school in October and manages everything with one eye.
Ethan stays with his mother and father Robert, IT manager in Carshalton in Surrey.
According to American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, more than 300 children in the UK are affected with retinoblastoma every year.
