Mother Diagnoses Son's Eye Cancer Through Facebook

Parents worry. It's kind of what we do. If we happen to see a weird rash or unexplained bruise on our kid, we a) immediately notice, and b) usually fret. Many of us, stupidly — so stupidly — go to Dr. Google to see what the problem might be, and within five seconds we're crying because the first seven hits are always some deadly, incurable disease. As such, I am resolved never to visit Dr. Google again. But after this story from Good Morning America about a mother who diagnosed her child with eye cancer from a photo after seeing something about it on Facebook, I might trust Dr. Facebook.

Julie Fitzgerald noticed some unusual spots on her two-year-old son Avery's left eye and that got her Mommy Sense tingling. (It's sort of like Spider-Man's Spidey Sense, but related to mommy things.) After remembering a viral story about a nurse who diagnosed a friend's toddler with a Facebook photo, Fitzgerald took a photo of her own child and, sure enough, discovered that her son had the telltale white glowing eye of retinoblastoma. Doctors confirmed that the boy had tumors in 75 percent of his left eye and, though the eye had to be removed, they caught the disease early enough that it did not spread to his brain.

"Our lives went from normal to cancer to a cancer survivor in three weeks," says Fitzgerald. "It turned out to be our worst nightmare, but it saved our son's life."

So there you have it: Facebook is good for something other than obsessively tracking down pictures of your ex's new girlfriend and taking quizzes to find out which Golden Girl you are.

I wish young Avery a swift recover to full health. Godspeed, little one! Watch the full unbelievable and lucky story below.