Sally’s Story

Osteosarcoma at the distal femur
Age at Diagnosis: 27
Date of Diagnosis: 2005
Location: United Kingdom
Hospital: Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham

Diagnosis: I first started with knee pain in October 2004, but my GP put it down to a strain even though I couldn’t remember falling or injuring myself. The pain got gradually worse, and I was waking in the night feeling as though my leg was on fire. My knee was hot, red and swollen. I kept going back to my GP but he kept giving me painkillers and telling me to come back in two weeks. Eventually I insisted on being referred to a specialist and had an X-ray at the hospital in February 2005. The X-ray showed “something suspicious” and I was referred to the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham for a biopsy, chest CT and bone scan. I was finally diagnosed with osteosarcoma in March 2005.

Treatment: I was about to get married at the time of diagnosis and my fiance and I had talked about starting a family. I was told the chemotherapy would probably make me infertile, so I wanted to have fertility treatment to store embryos before treatment started. But I was told that there wasn’t time to do this if I wanted to beat the cancer, so I reluctantly started chemotherapy straight away. I had two cycles of cisplatin, methotrexate and doxorubicin before my planned operation. I was expecting to have an endoprosthetic replacement but the tumour had grown too big so I had to have an above-knee amputation in July 2005. I then continued with chemotherapy, but my regime was changed to methotrexate, etoposide and ifosfamide. I finished chemotherapy in December 2005, just before Christmas.

Recovery: After nine months of chemotherapy I was physically and emotionally very weak, but I needed to start learning how to walk again using an artificial limb. I went to physiotherapy twice a week to help me do this and started out walking with two sticks, gradually progressing to one stick. On my wedding day in May 2006 I managed to walk down the aisle without any sticks, which was a huge milestone for me. I now walk without any sticks, although I do have a limp.

It took me quite a long time to come to terms with what had happened to me, and to adapt to my lack of mobility, but I found regular sessions with a clinical psychologist really helped.

Life now: In May 2006, five months after treatment finished, I got married to the man who had supported me through everything. It truly was an amazing day, even more so because we got married in the absolute knowledge that we could get through tough times together.

We went on a big trip around Australia and did loads of things I’d always wanted to do – horse riding along a beach, scuba diving, cuddling a koala! Having cancer taught me not to put off things and the holiday was a brilliant way to share new, positive experiences together.

I returned to work full-time and although my job had to be adapted a little for my disability, I soon felt as though I’d never been away.

I was devastated to be told that the chemotherapy had made me infertile during tests in October 2006 and this was a very difficult time. But happily I became pregnant and gave birth to my ‘miracle’ baby in October 2007.

I’m currently enjoying being a mum and loving the fact that my baby daughter is the centre of attention, instead of me!

Thoughts and Hints for Patients: If you’re lucky enough to have supportive family and friends around you, like I did – let them help. People are desperate to do things to make life a little easier – so let them. It takes a while to accept that you won’t be as mobile and independent as you were once were while you’re undergoing treatment, but things will get easier eventually.

Don’t expect life to spring back to normal as soon as treatment finishes. It takes time to recover from the intensive treatment, so give yourself time and don’t be hard on yourself if some things are more difficult than usual.