HEYWORTH - Mya Rose Crutcher, age 3, ran out of the room, then ran back a few seconds later with some toys. During the next hour last Monday afternoon, she ran in and out of the living room of her Heyworth apartment several times, usually carrying toys and often making a comment or two.

"Nothing stops her, that's for sure," said her mother, Jenny Williams.

"She loves playing dress-up, playing with her dollies and tormenting her sister (Zoey, age 6)," Williams said with a laugh. "She runs and plays and is nice and mean - just like any other 3-year-old."

Once, Mya brushed against a table. Her left eye wasn't focusing like her right eye. These were symptoms of a problem and not a routine problem.

Mya was born with bilateral retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer that she inherited from her father, Jason Crutcher. Their simultaneous cancer fights were the subject of Pantagraph articles in October 2004 when a community benefit in Bloomington helped the Crutcher family with some of Mya's medical and transportation expenses.

But as Mya's treatments were working, her father's treatments were unsuccessful in treating his latest battle with cancer. He died on July 14, 2005, at age 24 - one month after Mya's first birthday.

"Dad," Mya said when she heard her mother mention his name. "He died. But I miss him."

Nearly three years later, Mya is an active and verbal child. Williams and her fiance, Jay Blumstein, are hopeful that Mya's cancer fight is behind her.

"I'm just grateful that she's healthy," Williams said.

A father's fight

Jason Crutcher's first battle with cancer was during the first five years of his life. Bilateral retinoblastoma forced the removal of his left eye, but his right eye was saved with radiation and other treatment.

Mya was born on June 14, 2004. Two weeks later, she was diagnosed with the same cancer that her father had fought. Three months after that, cancer was again detected in Jason.

Mya was referred to the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, where she received chemotherapy for six months. For a time, she and her family returned to Chicago for follow-up examinations once every four weeks. Now it's once every eight weeks.

"There are no new tumors and the one tumor remaining (in the retina of her left eye) has not gotten any bigger and has not moved for almost three years now," Williams said. "There's no activity at all, as far as they can tell.

"The doctor is always happy when he leaves her exam because things are coming out the way they are supposed to," Williams said.

Asked what she thinks of her exams in Chicago, Mya said "I don't like shots!" Williams said Mya agrees to the trips because she knows that she will stay overnight in a Ronald McDonald House.

While the specialist that Mya sees in Chicago was not available for a Pantagraph interview last week, Williams said the doctor plans to continue to see Mya every eight weeks until she is 5 years old. "Then she will be clear of retinoblastoma," her mother said.

But the tumor means that Mya can see only shadows with her left eye, her mother said. Mya has been prescribed eye glasses to help her focus with her left eye. "Glasses do help," Williams said. "She's supposed to be wearing them but they're broken now.

"You can't come up to her from the left side because she can't see. It'll scare her," her mother said. "She runs into walls and corners of things because she can't see out of her left eye. She thinks she's farther over than she is."

But Williams said the accidents don't seem to bother Mya, who smiled and ran into the other room again.

"She's pretty much a tough little cookie. She doesn't know what pain is because she's been dealing with it her whole life."

Williams doesn't know what to expect for Mya's vision long term. Mya's next step is to get caught up with her childhood immunizations - which were delayed with her treatments - so she can attend pre-kindergarten in the fall.

Mya, Zoey, their mother, grandmother and Blumstein got a break for one week in March when they got to take a Make-A-Wish trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. Asked her favorite ride, Mya said "the teacups!"

"It was a lot of fun," Williams said. "We probably never would have seen it without Make-A-Wish." She takes care of her three children - including three-month-old Ricky - while Blumstein works at American Bio Refinery in Bloomington.

Asked what Jason would think of Mya today, Williams said "He would be ecstatic that the cancer is away and that she's as happy and as ornery as he was.

"He'd be very proud."

---

Retinoblastoma

Retinoblastoma is cancer of the retina. It occurs mostly in children younger than 5 years.

The tumor may begin in one or both eyes, which is bilateral retinoblastoma. It usually is confined to the eye, resulting in loss of vision, but can spread to the brain via the optic nerve.

Until recent years, the only treatment was removal of the affected eyeball before the cancer spread. Now, chemotherapy is the treatment of choice.