Tiny detail helped Australian mum spot her daughter's cancer

A small girl drinking with a straw.
Lola. Photo credit: GoFundMe/Lola's Fight For Sight

Melissa Hine's daughter Lola received the shock diagnosis of retinoblastoma after a small white spot was found in her eye.

Hine found the dot while talking to four-year-old Lola and a quick trip to the optometrist turned into a nightmare.

"I took her to an optometrist who then referred us to the Queensland Children’s Hospital on Monday,” Ms Hine told Yahoo News Australia.

“That’s when they told me the diagnosis retinoblastoma.”

Now Lola will need treatment for the cancer and could have to undergo cryotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery, a GoFundMe page set up for the family says.

Her mother is warning other parents to keep an eye on their children in case the little dots show up in their eyes.

She told Yahoo News Australia about a tip a doctor at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland gave her.

"So if there’s one thing you can do is get your babies’ eyes checked and take a photo with the flash on,” she said.

“The cancer is in Lola’s left eye so there’s no red reflection, if you see any type of change in the red reflection get it checked out straight away."

Newshub.