The Traitors star Livi Deane has revealed that she was only diagnosed with a rare eye cancer because she had begged her mum to take her to the opticians because she was jealous of her older sister’s glasses.
Livi was just 12 years old when she was informed she had Retinoblastoma. She underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy but unfortunately the cancer didn’t disappear and her right eye was removed when she was 14.
Retinoblastoma is a rare type of eye cancer that usually affects children under the age of five. Livi became only the second person ever to be diagnosed with the disease over the age of five in the UK.
Speaking to Vogue Williams on The Apple and The Tree podcast in September before finding fame on the BBC show, Livi, 26, recalled that medics were first alerted to the problem following an eye test, which came about because she wanted glasses like her sibling.
She explained: ‘I always looked up to my sisters and Lauren, who is the middle sister, she got a pair of glasses from Specsavers and I was like “Mum, I need some glasses!’ and she was like “Do you? Or do you just want them because Lol’s got them? You may not need them?’
She then told how it took weeks for her to finally convince her mum to book an opticians appointment for an eye test, with Livi remarking how she was ‘so hopeful’ of getting glasses.
The Traitors star Livi Deane has revealed that she was only diagnosed with a rare eye cancer because she had begged her mum to take her to the opticians because she was jealous of her older sister’s glasses
Speaking to Vogue Williams on The Apple and The Tree podcast , Livi recalled that medics were first alerted to the problem following an eye test, which came about because she wanted glasses like her sibling
Livi was just 12 years old when she was informed she had Retinoblastoma. She underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy but unfortunately the cancer didn’t disappear and her right eye was removed when she was 14
The model recalled her mum finally giving in and booking her an appointment which Livi attended with her Nan.
It was at this initial appointment that a ‘black mass’ was spotted in her eye, however Livi noted that ‘None of us were concerned at all’ at that moment.
At the time, Livi had known she had a ‘black mist floating in my vision’ that was there for a little while but never told anyone as she believed it was normal and something that ‘every one’ had.
At the appointment, the optician ‘raised the alarm’ after spotting something was ‘abnormal’
They initially thought it was cataracts but noted that it was ‘usual’ to for someone aged 12 to have so Livi was referred to her local hospital in Horsham.
She was then sent to another hospital in Brighton because eventually being referred to St Bart’s in London, where she finally received her diagnosis.
Opening up to Vogue, Livi remembered that everything seemed so ‘serious’ at the appointment, which saw both her mother and Nan getting their eyes tested at the same time.
Meanwhile, the TV personality, reflected on the moment she thought she was going ‘to die’ after she was given the heartbreaking diagnosis.
‘I always looked up to my sisters and Lauren, who is the middle sister, she got a pair of glasses from Specsavers and I was like “Mum, I need some glasses!’ and she was like “Do you? Or do you just want them because Lol’s got them?”
Meanwhile, the TV personality, reflected on the moment she thought she was going ‘to die’ after she was given the heartbreaking diagnosis
She explained: ‘It was just so serious and I really started to panic and I didn’t know what to do. Immediately he said this is your eye and you do have a form of cancer in your eye, it’s called Retinoblastoma.
‘I can’t even tell you what was said because straight away I was like “I’m going to die. I’m literally going to die, I cannot believe it.”
‘I was just thinking of all my friends living a normal life, I’d just started secondary school, I’d made new friends, I was so excited
‘I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t cry though. I was just frozen, I just couldn’t believe it. I almost felt a bit embarrassed to cry, I don’t know why, I felt really diseased all of a sudden, I felt like the victim in all of it and I just couldn’t deal with it.’
She then recalled how her mum and nan burst into tears before the doctor asked if she had any questions, with but Liv remembering feeling ‘too embarrassed to ask “am I going to die?”‘
Around 40 to 50 youngsters in the UK, and 200 to 300 in the US, are diagnosed with retinoblastoma each year, which typically affects babies and children under six.
Retinoblastoma happens when retina eye cells — which are supposed to grow very quickly and then stop growing during a baby’s early development — continue to grow and form a cancer.
When the tumour forms, light reflects off the cancer’s white surface, causing the child’s dilated pupil to appear white in flash photos or dim light.
Livi previously has opened up about her battle with cancer on The Traitors as she revealed that she had ‘been through a lot in life’.
The model, whose real name is Olivia, stood in the pool room with Leon and Armani and explained that right eye was a prosthetic.
Livi previously has opened up about her battle with cancer on The Traitors as she revealed that she had ‘been through a lot in life’
The model, whose real name is Olivia, stood in the pool room with Leon and Armani and explained that right eye was a prosthetic
When Armani asked Olivia and the others to open up about themselves and what they have gone through in life, Olivia explained that she was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer when she was just 12 years old
When Armani asked Olivia and the others to open up about themselves and what they have gone through in life, Olivia explained that she was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer when she was just 12 years old.
Opening up to her fellow teammates, Olivia said: ‘I have got one little boy. I’m an anaesthetic practitioner and a model.
‘I’ve got a prosthetic eye. My right one. So I have it removed when I was 14.’
Switching to the diary log, Olivia continued: ‘ I feel like I’ve been through a lot in life. When I was 12 years old I was diagnosed with a cancer called retinoblastoma.
‘It resulted in my losing my right eye. It just knocked my confidence massively. I felt embarrassed of my prosthetic eye.
‘I lost my hair, I was kind of wanting to turn into an adult, but adulthood was being ripped from me.’
Returning back to Olivia playing pool with Leon, she said: ‘A lot of people probably don’t even notice.’
To which Armani responded: ‘It is the most perfect prosthetic I’ve ever seen in my life.’
