Our History

Retinoblastoma of Arizona (RBAZ) started back in February 2001, when 4 RB mothers met on an RB Listserve and discovered they all lived in Arizona and decided to meet. In March 2001, they met at a park and then went to lunch at a McDonald's play area. The mothers had such a wonderful time that they decided to meet again, bringing their husbands along to all subsequent gatherings. The transformation of their RB affected children in areas such as self-confidence and normalcy after only meeting other children with prosthetic eyes one time was amazing. The families continued to meet every month for that first year. As the RBAZ family started to grow and life took over, gatherings changed to about 3-4 times a year. In 2003 RBAZ officially became a non-profit organization. RBAZ includes the whole family to help the child affected by the Retinoblastoma: the parents gain so much from meeting with other RB parents and the siblings have their own issues to deal with as well. RBAZ gatherings help to give a sense of normalcy and hope to families affected by this cancer. RBAZ feels that every child diagnosed with this horrible cancer deserves the benefit, as our children have done, of having at least one meeting with other children with a "new eye(s)". It's truly amazing to watch the newer families start to reach out to those just newly diagnosed; helping others is such healing. When a parent is told their child has cancer, their whole world falls apart. Our group comes from all walks of life and RBAZ isn't just an organization it’s a RBAZ family, which we honestly feel so blessed to have in our lives. RBAZ Founder