again.

The toddler had his right eye surgically removed roughly three weeks ago after being diagnosed with a rare eye disease.

The disease -- called Retinoblastoma -- is an eye cancer caused by a genetic mutation and while it can be passed on by parents who are carriers, in the majority of cases, it arises spontaneously.

At just two years, Tariq couldn't tell his mother that he was losing vision in one eye but thankfully, she was paying attention for him.

Allison Thomas, said she and Tariq's grandmother noticed something different about his eye while the three were on vacation in Florida. "It seemed reflective, like a cat's eye,'' she said.

When they returned to Bermuda, Tariq was immediately taken to an eye specialist but he wasn't sure what was causing the odd appearance of the eye and referred the Thomases overseas.

Two weeks later, in Boston, a paediatric ophthalmologist diagnosed Tariq with retinoblastoma and Ms Thomas was made quickly aware of how dangerous her son's condition might have been.

"His right eye had to be removed,'' she said, "to save his life.'' While she was very shocked, Ms. Thomas experienced no hesitation in telling the physicians to do what they had to do. "It was the best course of action because the tumors covered 60-70 percent of his eye,'' she said.

Dr. Peter Perinchief, Tariq's local paediatrician, said that this reflective quality to the eye that Ms Thomas noticed can be one of the first visible symptoms of retinoblastoma. The problem may also manifest itself in a squint or a lazy eye drifting inwards or outwards in the early stages, he said.

Children with these conditions should be checked carefully.

According to information booklets on retinoblastoma, parents are often the first to detect the symptoms. But, Dr. Perinchief said that the condition is "extremely rare''. He has only seen one other case in Bermuda and that was 15 years ago.

"That child just walked in off the street, I took one look and it was off to the opthalmolgist,'' he said.

The disease occurs in one of every 15,000 to 30,000 births in the US and when present tumours normally develop by age 28 months and can continue to form for seven years. The rare cancer develops from a mutation on the retinoblastoma gene. Dr. Perinchief said that while the gene is named for the eye cancer, it is present throughout the body and the mutation can take effect elsewhere.

Retinoblastoma can occur in several different forms -- affecting one eye or both, inherited or spontaneous, single mutation or double mutation -- and has various degrees of severity.

There are roughly 350 cases in the US every year.

In the worst cases, tumours are present at birth and may have already spread through the body and to the brain. This degree of severity tends to occur only in inherited cases, where affected parents had the disease in both eyes.

But Dr. Perinchief said in many of the more severe or unusual cases, the foetus would spontaneously abort due to the genetic problems.

In more common cases like Tariq's, the gene affects a chromosome responsible for retinal cell division. The retinal cells continue to divide unchecked, multiply and eventually develop into a tumor.

Removing the eye -- enucleation -- is the most common treatment and the only way to be sure the cancer has been completely removed.

After the eye was removed, doctors filled the cavity with tissue from Tariq's buttocks and a plastic conformer in order to preserve its shape.

Ms Thomas was able to take Tariq back to the hotel she was staying in that same day. Despite, the serious nature of the disease, 95 percent of those affected are cured and 90 percent will keep one functioning eye.

However, when the gene is present in other parts of the body, persons affected by retinoblastoma can be at greater risk for other cancers throughout their lives. Tests were done before and after Tariq's surgery to see whether the tumor had spread beyond the eye. It hasn't, but tests will continue on Tariq every six months to make sure it neither spreads nor develops in the left eye.

Doctors told Ms Thomas that Tariq had probably lost vision in that eye long before it was removed and that he had already adapted to seeing with only his left eye. Because of this, Tariq's mother said he has adjusted quite easily to the surgery, although other people are still adjusting to his appearance.

"It's most difficult when we take him out in public. People look and think, `What happened to him?','' she said.

And she has found that children are more accepting than adults. "Children tend to be timid at first, especially older children around four or five.

Smaller children are scared at first but he's such a outgoing child, they warm up to him really quickly. In adults' faces, all you see is shock.'' At the end of March, Tariq will be fitted for a prosthetic eye which will be attached to his eye muscles and move normally.

With the fake eye in place, Tariq will still blink.

He will still cry tears when he is sad.

The eye will be specially made to match his natural eye colour and, some day, he will probably wink it at a girl.

It will, however, be sightless.

Ms Thomas feels it is essential to let the public know about Tariq's condition to increase awareness. "People should know they have to be very observant with their children,'' she said.

Had she not noticed Tariq's condition and it had spread, it might have been fatal. "It can travel back through the optic nerve to the brain,'' she said.

And something much more precious than one brown eye might have been lost.

Photo By Tony Cordeiro Courageous toddler: Two-year-old Tariq Thomas, pictured here with mother Allison Thomas, had to have his right eye removed last month after he was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer. In March he will receive a new prosthetic eye.