Sore Knee Turned Out To Be Cancer

Real Fix

Credit: SWNS / Amy Haigh  A gymgoer who suffered from a sore knee for months was horrified to find she had - aggressive bone cancer.  Amy Haigh, 27, lived a fit and healthy lifestyle when her world was turned upside down in July 2022.  Amy had dealt with knee pain for six months, but thought she was suffering a sports injury.   When she finally saw a doctor, they found that Amy had a tumour on the end of her femur, close to the knee joint.  The former early childhood educator was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer in her left knee.  She had to undertake a long surgery to remove the cancerous bone as well as three rounds of chemotherapy.

Transcript

00:00 (soft music)

00:02 - Last year, October, I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma,

00:09 which is bone cancer in my left femur.

00:12 So the plan was for me to do six rounds of chemo

00:15 and a surgery in the middle.

00:18 So I had two rounds of chemo and then I had my surgery.

00:20 So it wasn't an eight hour surgery, it was a long one.

00:24 And what they did was they cut out the bit of bone

00:27 with the cancer in it,

00:28 and then they replaced it with a donor bone.

00:30 I've got a plate and screws and stuff in there now.

00:33 The surgery went really, really well.

00:35 We got the news back that they had taken enough bone out.

00:38 There was a chance that they might not have taken enough out

00:41 and I guess they would have had to have gone back

00:43 into surgery.

00:43 So the good news is that they took it all out

00:46 and I got to keep my joint.

00:48 So it was like the best case scenario.

00:52 So I'm pretty happy with that.

00:54 I'm seven weeks post-op now.

00:56 So I've got this thing on

00:59 and I'm supposed to have it on for another five weeks,

01:04 six weeks, five weeks.

01:05 And that's not a fun time.

01:09 But I went for an appointment a couple of weeks ago now

01:14 with my surgeon 'cause I had a little fall

01:16 and I had a bit of swelling and stuff.

01:18 Just wanted to get it checked out.

01:20 And he told me about the results that they took enough,

01:24 you know, of my bone out.

01:26 And then he's like,

01:29 if you don't have to do chemotherapy anymore,

01:32 all it's doing is making you feel like crap,

01:34 making your hair fall out

01:35 and making your immune system drop,

01:38 which means then I'm a walking target

01:40 for infection in my leg,

01:41 which makes it harder to heal.

01:42 And the thought of getting an infection

01:45 and having my leg amputated was like

01:46 in the front of my mind all the time.

01:48 I was so paranoid.

01:49 And he said that he's happy for me

01:53 to go into the monitoring stage

01:55 that we got all of the cancer out,

01:57 it was gone, you're cancer free.

01:59 That's it, no more chemo, you're cancer free.

02:02 We can monitor you.

02:03 I start crying.

02:06 He's, you know, trying to explain

02:08 the monitoring stage to me.

02:09 I'm just crying and like interrupting him,

02:11 asking him if he's serious.

02:13 He's like, yeah, yeah, I'm serious.

02:16 'Cause it was just the most unexpected news

02:18 for me to receive.

02:19 I didn't think that was gonna be

02:22 what I was gonna be told that day.

02:23 You know, I was supposed to be having chemo until June,

02:26 which is quite a few more months of chemotherapy.

02:29 And I was definitely getting to the point

02:31 where I was like, yep, I can't do this anymore.

02:34 My body can't handle it.

02:35 Mentally, I couldn't do it.

02:37 And the first thing I did was I rang my boyfriend.

02:40 I've never heard him giggle like that before.

02:42 He's just like on the phone giggling to me.

02:44 He's going, are you serious?

02:46 Is this a joke?

02:47 No, this isn't a joke.

02:48 I'm not joking with you.

02:51 He was just so over the moon.

02:53 He said he got a bit teary when we ended the phone call.

02:56 I called my mom, of course my mom, my sweet mom,

02:59 burst into tears, she's crying down the phone.

03:01 Just relief, so much relief.

03:04 My sister, I rang her as well.

03:06 And yeah, it's just been,

03:09 like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

03:12 Just so happy I can just get this leg better

03:15 and hopefully try to move on with my life.

03:18 But thank you to everyone that showed support

03:20 and I just, yeah, thank you.

03:23 (gentle music)

03:25 (gentle music)

03:28 (gentle music)

03:30 (music fades)

03:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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