A MUM diagnosed cancer in a baby girl she has never met - by looking at a photograph e-mailed from America.

Madeleine Robb was at home in Stretford when an internet chatroom friend from Florida forwarded a picture of her daughter.

The 32-year-old business analyst - who has no medical training - spotted an unusual white shadow on the eye of one-year-old Rowan Santos and went on to the web to find out more.

She found it could be a symptom of a form of eye cancer called Retinoblastoma and sent an e-mail to alert Rowan's mother Megan, also 32, at her home 4,300 miles away in Tampa.

Within hours, Mrs Santos had taken Rowan to a doctor, who found a large tumour in her left eye - and the youngster is now having chemotherapy.

Doctors say Madeleine's alert may have saved Rowan's life, although she will still lose an eye.

Madeleine, who also has a one-year-old daughter Lileth, met Rowan's mother through a pregnancy website when they were both expecting their babies.

The girls were born on the same day in August 2007 and the families kept in touch, e-mailing photos of them growing up.

Mrs Santos, who lives with husband David in Tampa, said she had seen a slight change in Rowan's eye colour, but the white shadow was only visible in a flash photo. The cancer was not detected when Rowan had a routine check-up at nine months.

Mrs Santos said: "Grateful cannot even begin to describe how we feel toward Maddie.

"Do I consider Madeline our hero? Most certainly - if she hadn't sent that e-mail, Rowan's prognosis wouldn't be as good as it is.

"One more week and the tumour could have hit her optic nerve."

Mrs Robb, who is married to Doug, said: "I didn't do anything special, but it shows how important it is to be aware of symptoms.

"Apparently, it shows up more on photos and new parents take pictures of their children all the time - they just have to know what to look for."

Retinoblastoma symptoms include an odd-looking, white pupil or red and inflamed eye, worsened vision or a squint.

Early detection can allow for more localised treatment and avoid the need for surgery.