Fraser Michael Smith was born on June 14 this year. Naturally, parents: Kelly (29) and Graham Smith (26) from Drumine Road were delighted with their new arrival, a little brother to Shay Marie (2) and Kelly's older children Kelsey (11) and Ryan (8).

However, when Fraser was about eight weeks old a routine check-up with the health visitor revealed that something was wrong with his eyes. The health visitor suspected a serious underlying problem and suggested a visit to the Forres Health Centre to try and get to the bottom of things.

At Forres Health Centre, Fraser was seen by Dr Janousek who recognised straight away that Fraser had a problem and said he needed to see a specialist urgently - referring him to Dr Gray's in Elgin.

"We knew something was wrong," said Fraser's grandmother, Judith Smith, who lives with her husband, Michael at Glenelg Road in Forres. "He wasn't responding to movement most of the time and his eyes were rolling. We are just so grateful that Dr Janousek realised, because Fraser's condition is quite rare."

Fraser was then referred to Aberdeen where the diagnosis of "Retina Blastoma" or cancer of the eyes ,was made on September 2 by specialist Mr Woods, when the baby was less than three months old.

Since then, things have happened quite quickly and Fraser has been undergoing months of treatment, including chemotherapy to kill off the cancer cells and cryotherapy which uses a laser to freeze the small tumours in his eyes.

The tot, who is now registered blind, is completely without sight in one eye and has partial sight in another eye.

The long term prognosis is good, although the worst case scenario is that he might lose an eye, and whatever happens, he must be checked regularly until he is seven years of age and there is a chance the cancer could re-occur elsewhere in his body when he is older.

"At the time he was the youngest baby to be diagnosed in Grampian," said Judith. "The specialist in Aberdeen Hospital said that he hadn't seen a case for three years."

Since his diagnosis, Fraser has been travelling between home and Aberdeen Hospital and also to Birmingham Children's Hospital where he receives specialist cryo laser treatment, getting his eyes x-rayed under anaesthetic to check them.

He was due to receive further treatment in Birmingham at the weekend and Judith said the whole family had decided that they wanted to raise awareness of the rare condition, as well as some cash for the two hospitals in question.

There is also the possibility that the family will need to do some fund-raising for themselves in order to fund the ongoing travel expenses associated with the trips down to Birmingham for Fraser's care.

"At the moment two of us from the extended family take it in turn to go down with Fraser," said Judith. "I travelled with my son, Graham, back in October to Birmingham and saw first hand the job they do and care that they gave Fraser. They are brilliant and the same goes for the staff in Aberdeen, who do a hard job."

The whole family got around the table and decided they wanted to raise awareness and cash. So Judith and Michael, along with Kelly's dad David, and wife Debbie Fraser, and Kelly's mum, Carol Hyndman, and her husband Alex, have all been working together to support the young couple and their family.

The family of Forres tot Fraser Michael Smith, who is nearly six months old, are hoping to raise awareness about Retina Blastoma or tumours in the eyes. He has been undergoing gruelling chemotherapy and laser treatment to battle his condition and is now nearly completely blind.

"Its been hard for everyone," said Judith. "Fraser's brothers and sisters have been great, but are really worried about him."

In order to so something tangible for the family, they have kicked-started a fund-raising appeal, with various members of the family pledging to do various things to raise the profile of the Retina Blastoma condition and raise cash for the Clic Sergeant charity for childhood cancers.

Judith's brother, who lives abroad, is holding a pool and darts night, while both grannies are planning a sponsored head shave and Debbie's son, John, who is serving in Germany in the army, has promised to do a sponsored leg shave.

The family are also hoping for a good response to a fashion show which they are planning to hold next year on February 27 at Forres Town Hall.

They are hoping that as well as people coming along and supporting them on the night, local businesses and individuals will agree to donate a raffle prize to help them raise as much cash as possible.

"I am going to write to all the businesses after Christmas," said Judith. "I know there is a credit crunch and Christmas is looming, but the work done by the hospitals and also the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust is go good, that we want to try and support them to help other youngsters."

She said they were also grateful to the Macmillan charity, with a nurse coming through from Inverness regularly to support the family.

As the condition only occurs in youngsters aged five and under, the family want parents of tots to be aware of the symptoms and not be frightened to ask their health visitor or doctor if they think something is wrong.

Nine out of ten children diagnosed with the condition that is caused by a problem with chromosomes can be cured.

The two common signs of Retino Blastoma are an abnormal appearance of the pupil - which tends to reflect light as a white reflex, like a cats eye and secondly a squint. Parents may notice a deterioration in their child's' vision or the eye may become red and inflamed. There may be no pain and apart from that, the child may appear absolutely well. Some youngsters may not thrive as well or have delayed development - causing concern.

Diagnosis is by an eye specialist who will be able to recognise the characteristics of an eye tumour. Treatment is varied, depending on the severity and type of the condition.

Anyone wishing to find out more should visit the website for the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust on http://www.chect.org.uk or phone 020 73775578.

Meantime anyone wishing to support the family or donate cash or a raffle prize can contact Judith on 07785108974 or 01309 673933.

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