Peggy’s Story

I had been in pain all year. The pain sharply accelerated during August. Two different sports orthopedians diagnosed me with a likely torn meniscus. I had assumed my arthritis was getting worse. I had been trying to stabilize my knee with grocery store knee braces.

I was very active, running agility in classes and herding sheep in class and trial competion with my dogs. I loved to be outside in the garden and doing team activities with my dogs.

August 21 while rising from a sitting position I felt a pop in my hip. Combined with the ever increasing pain, foggy thinking and fatigue, I was frightened. We hurried to the ER. The triage nurse said my blood pressure was off the chart (sign of pain) and hurried me to the front of the line. The ER doctor ordered a CT scan. He explained he could see fractures more easily than in the set of x-rays I brought with me. Read more

Bill’s Story

Chondrosarcoma at the ribs
Age at Diagnosis: 60
Date of Diagnosis: 2004
Location: Australia

Diagnosis, Treatment and Metastases: In 2004 I was diagnosed with a chondrosarcoma on my rib cage that went from the size of a prune to a grapefruit in 6 weeks. They removed the left side of my rib cage and replaced it with a plastic like rib cage. Last year, in November of 2005, I found another 2 chondrosarcomas on my knee and ankle. Due to this I lost my leg and have now had to learn how to walk again. Since then I recently have just had another chondrosarcoma where it originally occurred on my plastic rib cage. Read more