It started months earlier when a lump appeared on my right foot and would become painful every few weeks - particularly at night time. Eventually on Boxing Day in 2011 I decided to go to A&E as it was so painful I couldn't walk. I had an X-ray and was told my foot had been broken and that was why it was painful. However, the break didn't explain the lump on my foot, so after several visits to the hospital and a CT scan with no results we decided to get a second opinion.
The doctor took one look at my foot and sent me for an immediate MRI and afterwards told us that he suspected that it could be Ewing sarcoma. I was then referred to a specialist surgeon and had a biopsy of my foot and a body scan which confirmed his suspicion and showed it had already spread to my lungs. I didn't even think about what that meant at the time because after I received the results everything happened so quickly!
I was scheduled for my first chemo about a week later and this was to be the first of seven cycles of VIDE followed by surgery on my foot. My chemotherapy was every three weeks and unfortunately in between every cycle I had to go into my local A&E due to infections. However I was lucky in a way because the chemo didn't make me feel sick! During these cycles I had my stem cells harvested as a precaution in case they were needed at a later date.
However after my seven cycles of chemotherapy the doctors were not happy with how effective the chemo had been on the tumour in my foot and it was decided that my best chance of getting an all clear was to have a below knee amputation. This came as a shock but as everything was happening so quickly I tried not to think too much about it at the time. About a week later in August I had the surgery and stayed in hospital for about 10 days. After the surgery I chose to enter into the Euro Ewing 99 trial and was randomised to receive a high-dose chemotherapy with a stem cell transplant. I went into hospital in September to have my high dose chemo and ended up staying in hospital for around 3 months because I got a stomach bug C-diff and contracted Veno Occlusive disease which affected my liver.
After Christmas I was told that the high dose chemotherapy had been mostly successful in removing the remaining cancerous cells from my lungs - however one or two remained. So in February 2013 I had a lung operation to remove the remaining cancer from my lungs.
Since February 2013 I have been all clear from cancer. I have check-ups every three months and it has taken me a while to completely recover from it all and get my confidence back because of my amputation but I definitely could not have done it all without my family and friends. I sometimes think I had an easier time than they did as they did all the running round after me! But all in all it's great to be one year and two months into remission and counting!
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