An eagle-eyed mum saved her 4-year-old son from a potentially deadly retinal cancer, when she spotted a "glint in his eye" on a family photograph.
Just 10 days later, brave Joey Pleavin is recovering from revolutionary surgery which has left him without his left eye and undergoing chemotherapy, but on the road to recovery.
After noticing the "sparkle" on a number of photographs, concerned mum-of-one Lisa Pleavin, 38, from Wirral, Merseyside, took her son Joey to their family GP.
Despite doctor's reassurance that Joey's eye appeared normal, astute dad John O'Brien, 53, was convinced something was wrong and took the youngster to an optician for a second opinion.
Lisa, a nursery nurse, said: "I just knew there was something wrong, even though a lot of people couldn't see what I was talking about.
"In photographs, his eye looked almost hollow, but in real-life it was very difficult to see anything wrong.
"Even John couldn't quite understand what I was worried about to begin with, but once he became aware of it we both knew we needed to get to the bottom of it.
"We were still unsure, so took Joey to a local optician who scanned his eyes. It was clear something was wrong, but they couldn't sure what it was.
"John instantly called Alder Hey Hospital, and we raced straight down to get him checked. We were both absolutely terrified."
Dr Bill Newman, an eye expert at Alder Hey Childrens hospital in Liverpool soon diagnosed the youngster with the extremely rare cancer Retinoblastoma, which affects just 1 in 15,000 babies in the UK.
After being diagnosed by Dr Newman, Joey was transferred to the Birmingham Children's Hospital, one of only two centres in the UK which can perform the life-saving operation.
Joey's distraught Dad, John, explained: "It was the most horrendous experience of my life, it's any parent's worst nightmare.
"All I could think was, 'Is he going to die'. He's such a wonderful little lad, full of life and energy. He just loves being outdoors, playing football and being with his friends.
"The last thing we want is to be martyrs, but there were so many little signs which we just weren't aware of, and it's really important that parents know what to look out for.
"Looking back at the photographs of Joey now, it seems so obvious that something was wrong, but it just looked like a blemish on the picture.
"Thank God we got it checked out when we did, and the medical staff here and in Birmingham have been incredible.
"I'd really urge parents to be aware of this condition, and to get things checked out if they notice anything unusual. If we hadn't, the consequences could have been devastating."
There around 40 children diagnosed with retinoblastoma each year in the UK. Often the first symptom is a slightly faded pupil, known as a leukocoria, which does not reflect the light of a camera flash.
As a result, the affected eye can appear pale in a photograph while the healthy eye appears unchanged.
Treatments for Retinoblastoma, if diagnosed early, have a very high success rate, and more than 9 in 10 children are able to lead healthy lives following their treatment.
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