Below she shares her story of hope and courage to support other patients facing a similar journey.
I first noticed that something wasn't right with my arm when I was 23 weeks pregnant. I'd started experiencing pain in the top left of my arm that wouldn't go away, and eventually I visited my GP about it.
The GP referred me for physiotherapy at the Royal Berkshire Hospital and I was having this right up until the week before I gave birth. The physiotherapists thought it was muscular pain but I attended every appointment, did the exercises, and the pain never improved. My movement reduced too.
I couldn't put my arm behind my back, meaning I couldn't even do my own bra up.
The pain began to worsen at night and kept me awake. I couldn't lay on my left, and being pregnant you have to lie on your side, so I had to opt for my right. I was uncomfortable and in excruciating pain. I could only take paracetamol but, being pregnant, I tried to refrain from it where possible.
Most days I couldn't get through the day without taking it because the pain was so bad.
After giving birth to Theo, I was planning to go out for lunch with my mum, and we were trying to fit the car seat base into the car. I was pushing and pushing, until I heard a crunch in my left arm. The pain was agonising, so we called 111, and they sent an ambulance out to my house.
The paramedics said that my arm didn't look broken and thought it was a pulled muscle, so they prescribed me stronger painkillers and left.
A few days passed and the pain was still unbearable. I went back to the doctor and asked to be referred for a scan. He thought it was frozen shoulder, but I still asked:
Just to put my mind at rest, so we can rule everything else out, could I have an x-ray?
During the x-ray they found a mass. I was referred for an MRI, and that's when they realised it was a tumour. I was placed under the care of Professor Tom Cosker at the Oxford Sarcoma Clinic.
Following a biopsy, I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma on 2nd September 2022, and my surgery was to take place one week later as they found a fracture on my arm.
On the day the paramedics came out to see me, the bone had actually snapped from the pressure of the tumour growing on it.
I only had one week to think about it from diagnosis to surgery. I remember people asking how I was doing and how Theo was doing, because he was only eight weeks old at the time. I attended my goddaughter's christening days before the surgery and I pretended that everything was fine.
I just wanted one last normal day with my family.
When the day of my surgery came around, I thought to myself it shouldn't be this way. I wasn't supposed to have my baby, for this to be the happiest time of my life, and eight weeks later find out I had cancer and needed life-saving surgery.
Most first-time mums would be on maternity leave enjoying their babies, and I felt that was stolen from me.
I was informed that my surgery went better than expected. They removed the tumour and successfully reconstructed my shoulder with a metal replacement. I spent six days in hospital after my procedure.
After my operation I was referred to a fertility specialist, as we knew the next step would be chemotherapy. I was not eligible for IVF on the NHS as I had already conceived naturally, so I would have to pay for it privately.
The procedure cost thousands, which I could not afford, particularly because they encouraged fertility surgery before I started treatment. This was a very short window, so I would have to find the money quickly. The only other option was to remove an ovary via keyhole surgery and freeze my ovarian tissue with eggs inside it.
Surgery was carried out as soon as my scar had healed enough so there was no risk of infection. I had the operation three to four weeks after my limb-salvage surgery and I started chemotherapy one week later.
I had four cycles of MAP chemotherapy. Three were full cycles, and the last one without methotrexate as it was affecting my kidneys. In all four of my cycles, I ended up being admitted to hospital because I was going neutropenic and getting infections. Every time I was meant to be home for two weeks, I was taken back into hospital, sick.
In May 2023, I was sent for a routine x-ray at a sarcoma clinic, which uncovered a new tumour in my left arm. A biopsy confirmed that my osteosarcoma had returned. Surgery to remove the new tumour was booked in, but on the day of my operation (whilst I was being prepared for surgery) more tumours were found.
Surgery was cancelled, and I received a call a few days later informing me that amputating my left arm was the greatest chance at saving my life.
My amputation took place on 26th May 2023. Since then, I have been recovering at home with my boys — my partner Karl, our son Theo, and our dog Spencer. Life is looking brighter and more positive, I've returned to work a few days a week and started by own business.
Karl has been amazing. He was thrown into being a single dad with a newborn baby. I couldn't do anything when I came home from surgery, and after that I was either receiving treatment or extremely unwell.
Although life hasn't been easy and I've had to adjust to life as an amputee, I've had a lot of support around me.
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