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A teenager who thought she just had a pulled muscle now has a titanium rod for a thigh bone after being diagnosed with a rare cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Faye Lucas, 19, put off going to the doctors\u00a0for more than 12 months as she put her difficulty bending her leg down to a strain.<\/p>\n
But the newly-qualified hairdresser, from Guildford, was horrified to be told that she had parosteal osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.<\/p>\n
Devastated to learn she may have to lose her hair for chemotherapy, her world was turned upside down with the diagnosis. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But to fight the disease, she underwent a pioneering four-hour operation to replace her left femur with the metal bone.<\/p>\n
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Having to learn how to walk all over again, she is now ‘grieving over the loss of her limb’ which she says doesn’t feel like hers.<\/p>\n
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![\"Faye](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/07\/11\/10\/423730AF00000578-4684678-image-a-59_1499765207151.jpg\")
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Faye Lucas, 19, put off going to the doctors for more than 12 months as she put her difficulty bending her leg down to a strain<\/p>\n
Miss Lucas said: ‘I couldn’t bend my knee properly but put off going to the doctors for about a year.<\/p>\n
‘I’m quite a clumsy person. I thought I had just pulled a muscle at first so I presumed it would get better by itself, but after about a year I realised that it had just got worse.<\/p>\n
‘It got to a certain point where my leg wouldn’t go any further, I started to compare it to my other leg as I could bend that one a lot easier and further.<\/p>\n
‘I went to the doctors but I felt silly going just because I couldn’t bend my leg. When I got the diagnosis I was just in shock.<\/p>\n
‘As soon as I went into the room and saw the nurse’s Macmillan name badge I already knew what the consultant would say.’<\/p>\n Shocking diagnosis\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Her parents were shocked at the diagnosis, considering that her mother, Janice, 51, had only just been given the clear from breast cancer a year ago.<\/p>\n She said her father, Paul, 54, was in ‘despair’ after being given the news almost straight after his wife battled the disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although still early into her recovery she has already started planning how to get back into the workplace with placing extra strain on her new ‘bone’.<\/p>\n But the newly-qualified hairdresser was horrified to be told she had parosteal osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer (pictured with her boyfriend of four years Herbie Elliot)<\/p>\n Miss Lucas said: ‘It’s not how I thought my life would be. Walking is really good for my leg but standing isn’t great, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to go back to hairdressing.<\/p>\n ‘I just want to see, I don’t want to get disappointed by hoping I can go back to it but then finding out I can’t.<\/p>\n ‘My specialist suggested I could do it part time, or I could even get a job as a receptionist at a hair salon and just do the occasional client.<\/p>\n ‘I’m 19 so I’ve got the rest of my life ahead of me – the possibilities are endless.’<\/p>\n Big challenges\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She added: ‘The biggest challenge is just the everyday things I used to take for granted, I find getting out of bed and standing is a really big struggle.<\/p>\n ‘Also finding the energy to just motivate myself – as much as I want to get better it is hard.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n ‘I think initially I was naive to how painful it would be. What shocked me is that you grieve over your leg, it doesn’t feel like yours anymore.<\/p>\n ‘I just felt sad about it all, like I didn’t think you would be able to tell that the titanium replacement isn’t your own bone. I didn’t expect any of these feelings at all.’\u00a0<\/p>\n \n Miss Lucas, who lives with mother and father, Paul, 54, decided to go to the doctors last December after realising she could no longer bend her left leg.<\/p>\n To fight the disease, she underwent a pioneering four-hour operation to replace her left femur with a titanium rod<\/p>\n Having to learn how to walk all over again, she is now ‘grieving over the loss of her limb’ which she says doesn’t feel like hers<\/p>\n Believing she had merely pulled a muscle, she was referred to a physiotherapist for three months – but it didn’t work.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n The 19-year-old went for an X-ray in January this year, followed by an MRI scan and then underwent a bone biopsy.<\/p>\n After the biopsy in March, she was dealt the news that she had the rare bone cancer and would need to undergo surgery.<\/p>\n Incredible support\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now two months on, she has been reflecting on the incredible support she received from the staff at Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, Middlesex.<\/p>\n Osteosarcoma is a rare type of sarcoma of the bone and is also called osteogenic sarcoma.<\/p>\n The most common type of bone cancer, it is found in growing bones and is usually diagnosed in teenagers and young adults.<\/p>\n It is slightly more common in men than women.<\/p>\n They are rare, with only around 530 new cases each year in the UK<\/p>\n It can affect any bone in the body but is most common in the arms and legs.<\/p>\n The cause of the cancer is unknown but it is thought to be related to rapid bone growth, such as adolescence.\u00a0<\/p>\n The most common symptom is pain, but the tumour can also cause swelling and tenderness.<\/p>\n It is sometimes diagnosed when a bone weakened by the cancer breaks during a minor accident.\u00a0<\/p>\n Osteosarcomas are treated by a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.<\/p>\n Surgery is a very important part of treatment and is used to remove the tumour in the bone.<\/p>\n Source: Macmillan Cancer Support<\/a><\/p>\n Miss Lucas, praising those who performed the surgery, said: ‘The staff at Stanmore were amazing, they had so much time for me.<\/p>\n ‘When you’ve had your operation they get you up and standing, you can’t go home unless you can sit on a chair at a 90-degree angle. I was only in hospital for about 10 days which is really good.<\/p>\n ‘They kept reminding me that these metal bones have got to be in me for the rest of my life so I have to take care of them.<\/p>\n ‘I need to find the happy medium between keeping it moving and not moving it too much.’\u00a0<\/p>\n Pillars of strength\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \n Miss Lucas said her family and boyfriend of four years, Herbie Elliot, had been pillars of strength during her diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n \n She said Herbie would take out her parents when they became upset to try and take their mind off the situation.<\/p>\n His family also chipped in to help, offering her to stay at their bungalow when she struggled with the stairs at her own house.\u00a0<\/p>\n Raise awareness\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \n Miss Lucas is now speaking out to raise awareness of the disease and let others in the same situation know they’re not alone.<\/p>\n She said: ‘There’s not a lot of information on the internet about my type of cancer so I hope I can reach out to people and help them.<\/p>\n ‘It can sometimes feel quite lonely so it’s good to find someone else in a similar situation so you know that you’re not alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n Lindsey Bennister, chief executive of Sarcoma UK, said: ‘Being diagnosed with a cancer such as osteosarcoma is an isolating and frightening experience..<\/p>\n ‘Sarcoma UK is here to provide personal and expert support to people with sarcoma and their families so that they aren’t alone.<\/p>\n ‘If you are worried about osteosarcoma, contact our Support Line by phone or email and talk to our bone sarcoma specialist nurse.’\u00a0<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A teenager who thought she just had a pulled muscle now has a titanium rod for a thigh bone after being diagnosed with a rare cancer. Faye Lucas, 19, put off going to the doctors\u00a0for more than 12 months as she put her difficulty bending her leg down to a strain. But the newly-qualified hairdresser, Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/07\/11\/09\/4236F75F00000578-0-image-m-54_1499762596745.jpg\")
The teenager who thinks she is 120 DIFFERENT PEOPLE:…<\/span>
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Teenager dubbed ‘bubble wrap boy’ defies the odds to survive…<\/span>
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The summer holidays are BAD for children: Youngsters spend…<\/span>
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The pig skin \u00bfbra\u00bf built within the breast that gives women…<\/span>
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<\/p>\nWHAT IS AN OSTEOSARCOMA?<\/h3>\n