Larry first interacted with Megan and Team KTG in September 2020 during the WE C HOPE Meeting with Dr Jessy Berry. Being a trained and certified Palliative Care Nurse himself, Larry perceived that there was a dire need to educate the community and the medical fraternity regarding RB, especially as it goes undetected, often being recognized at the very end. He began Community Awareness with a Radio Program at 94.3 FM Radio One and a Podcast on Something You Wanna Know with Desmond Fernandes.
He was able to spread awareness of Retinoblastoma through a Webinar on 13th September 2020 for over a hundred Doctors all over India. Larry collaborated with KTG on World Sight Day, 8th October 2020, and organized an International Webinar on Eye Cancer Awareness which brought in over 400 Nurses and Optometrists as Participants from all over the world. Together with Dr. Himika Gupta of Narayana Health’s SRCC Children’s Hospital in Mumbai, Larry teamed up with KTG and began planning a program to work in Urban and Rural communities on Five Key areas such as Awareness, Screening, Appropriate Referral, White Eye (Leukocoria) Assessment, Low Vision Management and Ocular Prosthesis as Focus Vision Five.
Understanding the need for support among survivors and families of children with RB, they started a Support Group and Organized Virtual RB Survivors Meet in India to showcase inspirational stories of RB Survivors, discuss Genetic Factors, Counseling, expression of talents, and story sessions for children. Larry was a panelist in the Global Glow Panel (Retinoblastoma Around the World) at the World Eye Cancer HOPE One Rb World Conference held between 1-3, October 2021.
Larry has worked tirelessly in India and across international borders in Patient and Parent advocacy towards Eye Diseases in Children. He has dedicated his life to Palliative Care for patients with life-limiting illnesses with the Certification on Good Clinical Practice (GCP), National Trainer on End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Basic and Core. He was the First Nurse in the State of Maharashtra to pursue a Ph.D. in Palliative Care Nursing from Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), Pune.
Supporting KTG’s Global Vision, Mission, and Purpose with outreach and support, Larry hopes to continue to spread awareness across the world on glow-related eye diseases and drive action to prevent childhood blindness.
