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Fetty Wap Influences Young Fan with Retinoblastoma

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It’s been a week since the rapper known as, “Fetty Wap”, released his self titled debut rap album. The New Jersey based rapper grew to fame with his 2015 single, “Trap Queen,” and is known for having one eye. In the beginning of his career there were several speculations on how he “lost his eye,” which most attributed to getting shot out due to the nature of his lyrics. Fetty Wap finally revealed that the loss of sight in his left eye was due to a condition called “Retinoblastoma.”

Retinoblastoma is a rare eye cancer that begins in the retina — the sensitive lining on the inside of your eye. It most commonly affects young children, but can rarely occur in adults. Retinoblastoma occurs when nerve cells in the retina develop genetic mutations. These mutations cause the cells to continue growing and multiplying when healthy cells would die. This accumulating mass of cells forms a tumor. Retinoblastoma cells can invade further into the eye and nearby structures. Retinoblastoma can also spread (metastasize) to other areas of the body, including the brain and spine.

Since Retinoblastoma is a form of cancer, the only treatment is chemotherapy followed by surgery, however you should see an optometrist when your child displays the following signs:

  • A white color in the center circle of the eye (pupil) when light is shone in the eye, such as when taking a flash photograph
  • Eyes that appear to be looking in different directions
  • Eye redness
  • Eye swelling

In all cases eyesight in the infected eye is lost, which can be traumatizing for a child. Some children will wear a prosthetic eye for cosmetic and self esteem purposes.

Recently, the rapper Fetty Wap inspired a young boy named Jayden, from Denver, Colorado who was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma (at age 1) to remove his prosthetic eye. Fetty caught wind of the story and thanked Jayden and his family for being fans and responded, “All I wanna do is show people (ppl) that it’s not how you look or what you see it’s how you see it and what your looking for from yourself. I appreciate his confidence, I appreciate you taking the time out for me and thank you for being a fan of me as a person and thank lil man for being a fan of Fetty Wap.”

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