Mel’s Story
Osteosarcoma at the Distal Femur
Age at Diagnosis: 31
Year of Diagnosis: 1993
Location: Maine, USA
Diagnosis: I was working for a cellular company in 1993, and was in the midst of dropping off new phones to several orthopedic doctors in town, when my life abruptly changed. During the instruction phase, one of the doctors told me my right knee looked unusually swollen and sent me for an X-Ray immediately. I joked with him that he was trying to trade “service for service”, but he wasn’t joking. The X-Ray showed a large tumor in my right distal femur. I had Stage 2 Osteosarcoma, or bone cancer. The doctor was also surprised as I was 31 years old and much older than his teenage patients whom this cancer usually affects. God was definitely looking out for me that day, especially since the doctor who noticed my knee had done his residency in Boston, at Mass General Hospital, with two world renown Orthopedic Surgeons (who specialized in bone cancers), and recognized my cancer when he saw it. Were it not for this fateful visit, I would not be here to tell my story today as I didn’t have any symptoms that would have triggered me to have my knee looked at that point in my life. Read more
March 13, 2006 in Osteosarcoma Stories
