"I believe that God has given me
a special purpose for my life --
to help people know that
you can have a fake eye and still be cute."

These words that Amy shared at a church service recently represent the incredible grace and strength of this special young girl. As she confidently shared her story, her parents could only think of what a remarkable eight years it had been since they had first heard the word retinoblastoma.

Amy was born in 1991 a healthy, happy girl. However, sometimes when she played on the floor, her parents would notice something briefly shining in her eye.

It reminded them of a "cats eye." But as soon as it came it would disappear and so would their momentary concern. (What they did not know at the time was that they were seeing light reflecting off a growing tumor in her eye.)

Kathy, Amy's mother, was concerned enough to mention it to the pediatrician who dismissed it as nothing. However, Kathy could not shake her concern and insisted on another pediatrician taking a better look.

With the room dark, the pediatrician looked long and hard into Amy's eye and finally told Kathy that she needed to see a pediatric opthamologist - immediately. This began a whirlwind of tests and specialists which culminated in the office of Dr. Linn Murphree who first uttered the word retinoblastoma.

It took a moment for Amy's parents to understand what he was saying was that their 9 month old baby had eye cancer. This began a year of a treatment that included four months of chemotherapy and laser treatments at Children' s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Though this was a very trying and difficult time, the wonderful nurses and doctors at CHLA did everything they could to help Amy, her sister Kristina and her parents. The chemo/laser treatments seemed to be effective and soon Amy's tumor was declared dead and her parents and family rejoiced.

They had beaten the cancer - or so they thought. A year later, during a routine check-up, Dr. Murphree discovered that the tumor was back and dangerously close to her optic nerve.

The choice was simple - either Amy's eye would have to be removed or the cancer would spread to her brain and she would die. The next week Amy's eye was enucleated - her eye removed and with it, the deadly cancer.

While holding their daughter with a large patch over her eye, the family could not imagine what the future would hold for their daughter. They could not realize that in a short time their courageous little girl would grow into a confident, energetic young lady who participates in jazz dance, drill team and church activities.

They could not know that thanks to a skilled ocularist, Steve Haddad, Amy would have a beautiful prosthetic eye that would look real and that she would be encouraged to help other parents and children.

As Amy and Kathy regularly meet with parents of children who have been diagnosed with retinoblastoma, Amy loves to play the game "Guess which eye is fake." They usually guess wrong.

Her strength, health and beauty are living testimonies of hope to these parents and children as she leads a totally normal life.

After all, Amy loves to show people that "you can have a fake eye and still be cute."