Kayla’s Story

I had been having severe right knee pain starting December 2017. I went in for a simple doctor’s visit because I thought it could be a tendonitis from my job. X-rays were conducted and a lesion on my right distal femur was found. I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, on April 20, 2018. The first thing my doctor told me was to not research anything because I would just scare myself. Just being told I have cancer scared me so much. I tried my hardest not to cry when my parents and I were talking to the Oncologist of what the next steps would be. My port was placed three weeks later, chemo started two weeks after that. Before chemo started, I had my eggs extracted. This made my first round of chemo very rough due to severe cramping from the removal on top of the nausea and anxiety of receiving chemotherapy. During my fourth round of chemotherapy, I received Methotrexate and Cisplatin chemo toxicity. I had to stop the chemo treatment. This was the scariest thing I had ever endured. I thought I was dying and I couldn’t control anything I did.

Upon further evaluation my treatment regimen changed to a lesser used protocol from St. Jude’s, and continued treatment four weeks later. I received a femur resection and total knee replacement in my right knee August 27, 2018. The recovery was very difficult and frustrating due to the pain and having to relearn how to walk again. I was very hard on myself because I didn’t understand that I couldn’t just jump back into things like I used to. I have been receiving chemo therapy around every five weeks. The process of recovery from my surgery has been great! I am finished with physical therapy and walking so much better on my own! I only have two more rounds of chemo left before I am finally finished! These last ones are the ones are the hardest, I dread going inpatient and feeling horrible for weeks following.

Kayla’s Gallery