Wendy Grossman Kantor is an award-winning journalist who has spent 20 years as a reporter for PEOPLE. She covers human interest, health, crime and politics for PEOPLE.
Annabeth Baah went for her yearly physical on May 5, 2025. The 8-year-old’s left eye was weak, so her doctor suggested she get an eye exam to see if she might need glasses. Her father Kwabena Baah took her that same afternoon.
The exam was performed by Jeffrey Cohen, Lead Optometrist for the Greater Albany Area for Visionworks of America. While Annabeth did not need glasses, he said, the optic nerve in her left eye was very swollen. He was alarmed and told her family they needed to take action.
“The eye doctor just took one look and immediately said, ‘Hey, you guys have to go to the emergency room,’ ” remembers Kwabena, a 49-year-old service desk professional. “He said, ‘You have to go tonight.’ He was very insistent.”
That evening, the Baah family spent five hours at the emergency room near their home in Poughkeepsie, New York. They were sent home and told to make an appointment with a neurologist.
The next day, Cohen called the family to check in. He was surprised to learn Annabeth had not been admitted to the hospital. He advised the family to take her to Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Westchester, New York, because they had an ophthalmology department. “This is not something you can hold off on,” says Cohen. “This wasn’t something we could ignore or get to tomorrow.”
After being admitted to the hospital, doctors ran tests on Annabeth. Days later, on Mother’s Day, her parents were told that their seemingly healthy daughter had a brain tumor.
“She’s a very healthy child,” says her mother, Mavis Baah, 46, an IT risk professional. And, she explains, Annabeth had no noticeable symptoms of a brain tumor, such as headaches or blurry vision.
“My youngest sister is a doctor,” Mavis says. “She said, ‘I was with you guys last week. If she had any symptoms, I would’ve caught it.’ ”
Mavis’ sister suggested they get a second opinion at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
After Annabeth was transferred there, the brain tumor diagnosis was confirmed. She had surgery the next day, May 12, to remove a craniopharyngioma, a large but benign brain tumor. Without treatment, her mother says, the tumor would have created more pressure in her brain, and she could have lost her vision. If they had waited for noticeable symptoms to appear, it could have grown undetected for years. The routine eye exam had saved her.
“The doctors didn’t understand. “They kept on asking, ‘How did you find this?’ ” her mother says. “It’s just a miracle.”
Cohen visited Annabeth in the hospital two days after her surgery.
“To my delight, I walked into the room of this young 8-year-old girl who was dancing, and she was joyful,” he says. “You would never have known that she had brain surgery. It was really heartwarming.”
He brought her a stuffed animal and laughed and chatted with his patient.
Annabeth’s brain tumor was benign, but because the surgeon was not able to remove all of it, she had six weeks of proton therapy.
“She made so many friends at the cancer center, both adults and young people,” Mavis recalls. And she would tell her story and encourage other people, like, ‘You see I’m well, I’m okay, so you’ll be okay, too.’ ”
Today, Annabeth is back to her usual self, helping her father build and fix things, and drawing pictures.
“If we tell you this kid had a major brain surgery, you won’t believe it,” her mother says.
Now her parents and Cohen share Annabeth’s story to encourage other parents to take their children for routine vision checks, even if a child passes a vision screening at school or the pediatrician. Optometrists take an in-depth look at the eyes; Cohen says about 270 illnesses can be diagnosed with a simple exam.
“Please don’t wait for the symptoms,” Mavis says. “I did not know that a simple eye check could actually detect a lot of things. I wouldn’t have believed it if it had not happened to my daughter.
