When I was two years old, my parents received a call from my daycare notifying them that I had begun limping and needed to be picked up early. My parents then called my pediatrician’s office, and they attributed it to growing pains since I was not exhibiting any other symptoms. The limp had ceased the next day, so my parents did not think much of it. A couple months later they got a similar call, except this time I had a fever along with the limp. The pediatrician we visited ordered some X-rays, and after looking at the results, he suspected I had a malignant tumor. He told us to go immediately to Stanford Children’s Hospital for further testing.
The doctors determined that I had Ewing Sarcoma, a rare and aggressive type of bone cancer. Thankfully, the cancer had not spread, and my chances of survival were greatly increased. The treatment plan included chemotherapy and a rotationplasty amputation to remove the tumor.
I don’t remember a lot of my cancer treatment because I was very young when it happened. But I have lived with the effects of treatment my whole life. Since treatment ended, I have mostly just gone about living a normal life. Because of my amputation and prosthetic leg, I have more medical appointments than some other people my age, but it doesn’t change much for me. My prosthetic has allowed me to be very active my whole life. I am now in high school, and I plan to go to college and eventually get a PhD in mathematics.
Words of Wisdom:
Cancer isn’t forever. Life can be pretty great after cancer.
