Kids need a voice in Washington D.C. and this year kids from Dayton will be represented by Colin Beach as part of the Children’s Hospital Assocaition’s Family Advocacy Day.
Thirteen-year-old, Colin, and his family will join nearly 30 other child patients and their families traveling to the nation’s capital to help bring to life the importance of adequate funding for pediatric care June 18-20, 2013. The event includes one-on-one congressional visits, a congressional luncheon, a tour of Washington and a celebratory dinner to honor the child patients known as Family Advocacy Day “All Stars.”
The Beach family, from Centerville, knows just how important pediatric care is. At five months old, Colin developed what his parents thought was a lazy eye. While he was at his six month check-up, the doctor examined his eye and discovered that he had bilateral hereditary retinoblastoma. This is a rare condition in which malignant tumors develop in the eye. In Colin’s case, there were 2 tumors in his right eye and 9 in his left causing his left eye to go blind.
Colin started off getting 4 and 6 cycles of chemotherapy then had laser therapy done after each chemo session. Fortunately, this stopped all of the tumors and eventually allowed all of them to completely disappear.
He might have a lifetime of being blind in one eye, but that and over 30 surgeries have not stopped him. He has learned to accept it as part of his life and is making the absolute best of it.
Follow Colin’s trip to Washington D.C. here!