Online Photo, Email Save Baby's Life

A photo posted to the Internet, a sharp-eyed trans-Atlantic friend, and email have combined to save a baby's life.

Megan Santos and Madeleine Robb first met through chat on a pregnancy Web site, BabyFit.com, when they were both expecting. Despite the thousands of miles separating them (Santos is in Florida while Robb is in the England), the two became friends, and continued communicating after the births of their daughters, Rowan Santos and Lileth Robb, who were both born on August 8th, 2007.

But when Santos uploaded a picture of Rowan to her BabyFit page, it caught Robb's attention, because of a white shadow in the baby’s left eye (above). It reminded Robb of something, she wasn't sure what, but the word "cancer" sprang to mind.

Robb did research, and learned that the white area could be a symptom of a cancer called retinoblastoma.

On Thursday, Robb was interviewed by Meredith Vieira on the Today Show. Robb said:

"Well, obviously I didn’t want to scare her unnecessarily. But then I weighed out the options. If something wasn't wrong, then no real harm was done. If something was wrong, then I really had no option, so obviously I had to tell her, really."

Robb sent an email on Aug. 7th to Santos, who acted quickly and set up an appointment with Rowan's doctor. The next day, Aug. 8th, Santos was referred to an ophthalmologist, who determined after a series of tests that Rowan did have a cancerous tumor growing on her left retina.

Rowan will unfortunately lose her left eye, but at least she has a chance at life. Retinoblastoma is considered to be one of the most common inherited cancers.

Megan Santos has called Madeleine Robb a hero, and when asked about it on the Today Show, Robb replied:

"I suppose if that's how they feel, then that's what I am to them. I think anybody in my situation would have done the same thing, if they'd known what I knew, and had the opportunity to say it. So, I suppose I'm a hero in a certain sense, but in another sense I think I'm just, you know, rather normal, and I care about people."

Watch the Today Show interview here: