Cancer of the eyes Kills six-year-old

Six-year-old Crystal John died Monday at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation
(GPHC) after battling Retinoblastoma – cancer of the eyes – for years.
She travelled to Havana, Cuba in February 2018 for Chemotherapy and was given a clean bill of
health upon completion. Cuban specialists advised her parents to ensure she gets a medical
checkup annually to monitor her condition.
Crystal died at her mother's side at the country’s apex health institution one day after she was
hospitalised from complaints of feeling unwell. She was in very high spirit Saturday after
Sabbath and was treated to food and ice-cream.
“On Sunday, they told us that the cancerous tumor was in the brain. It had gotten worse and there
was nothing more that they (doctors) could do so she went into a shock, a seizure and then she
lost mobility in her right sight. She also lost her speech and everything just started happening one
after the other. By Sunday night she was speaking a bit but in a very delirious manner. She ended
up defecating herself which was something that she never usually does. She wanted to go to the
washroom but she had in the urine bag and she wanted to pull it out but she ended up pulling out
her saline, she pulled out everything else,” her brokenhearted mother La Shawn said.
La Shawn was surprised by her sudden change of behaviour.
“She was very delirious. She was fighting. She literally started lashing you and she spent the
night in pediatrics. After she went into pediatrics she wasn’t saying anything, sleeping or eating
anything and we had to feed her with water through a syringe as they said that her body will be
dehydrated. She had succeeded in pulling out the saline. They got the saline in but she passed
yesterday around 6:15 pm,” an emotional La Shawn related.

She is equally numbed by her child’s death as are the two teenage girls in the home.
“This is like a real shock as she just took down from Sunday and everything went one after the
other and she died yesterday,” La Shawn said.
Crystal suffered from Retinoblastoma, a malignant ocular tumour of the retinal cells of the eyes.
This form of cancer, usually occurs before the third year of a child’s life.
In Crystal’s case, both of her eyes had to be surgically removed in a bid to help save her life. She
lost the first as a baby and the other in February 2017.
Both surgeries were done at the GPHC.
“She went to Cuba in 2018 where she did radioactive and chemotherapy and the doctors assured
us both were successful. They even suggested that we should do a scan every year to be on the
safe side.
In December 2020 we did a scan at Mercy Hospital and it was after that they said that the tumor
was in her eye canal.
Choking back tears La Shawn disclosed that they did everything humanly possible to ensure that
Crystal could have had a normal life despite her disabilities. She disclosed that they had spent
huge sums on medical bills at various hospitals.
She was receiving therapy at GPHC with last Friday being the end of her eight weeks of the
procedure.
“Last Friday she completed her eight weeks of therapy and she only had four more weeks
remaining,” the mother said.
La Shawn and her husband who are Seventh Day Adventists and are trusting God for strength as
they try to survive this very difficult period.
www.aroundtheregions.com extends profound condolences to the family, friends and
relatives of the late Crystal John.