Knee pain when working out at the gym, went to the doctor and found out it was bone cancer

Amy Haigh suddenly felt a dull ache in her knee. She ignored the pain but when she went to the gym, the pain and swelling became worse. The test results shocked her because the cause of the pain was bone cancer.

Amy Haigh (27 years old) lives in Auckland city, New Zealand. In March 2022, her left knee suddenly ached. The girl thought it was probably due to an injury after a horse riding, according to the Daily Mail (UK).

Amy Haigh had no idea her knee pain was caused by osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.

ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK

She did not go to the doctor for a check-up but let herself recover. But soon after, her knee hurt and swelled worse every time she went to the gym. For the next 6 months, she went to a physical therapist and an orthopedist, but the treatments were ineffective.

Her personal trainer noticed something was wrong and suggested Ms Haigh get a CT scan. In September 2022, she went to the hospital for a check-up and was ordered to have an MRI scan. The results revealed that she had osteosarcoma, the most common type of primary bone cancer.

Being diagnosed with cancer at such a young age and with a healthy lifestyle was a shock to Ms Haigh. "I've always been very active and healthy, never had any serious illnesses, just the occasional cold. I started going to the gym in 2019 and I'm a passionate horse rider," Ms Haigh said.

Cancer scared the girl. She cried a lot, cried in the car, during lunch breaks and in the toilet. Her family was also very confused because bone cancer is considered a dangerous and serious type of cancer. In October 2022, she started treatment with 2 rounds of chemotherapy, each lasting 35 days.

"After the first round of chemotherapy, I had a lot of side effects. The doctor had to reduce the dose of chemotherapy in the next round so that I could still perform some activities in life," Ms. Haigh recalled.

In January 2023, she underwent an eight-hour operation to remove the cancerous part of her left femur. The removed bone was replaced with a femur from a donor in the United States, which still has 11 screws in it.

In March 2023, doctors officially declared her cancer-free. She has since continued to recover from the psychological trauma of the surgery and the cancer. She will soon need another operation to remove scar tissue from her knee.

Osteosarcoma usually appears at the end of long bones, where new tissue forms as the bone grows. Common symptoms of this type of bone cancer include persistent pain, increasing pain, red and swollen joints, tumor formation in the joints, weak and brittle bones. Common methods used for treatment are chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, according to Daily Mail.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dau-nhuc-dau-goi-khi-tap-gym-di-kham-moi-biet-la-ung-thu-xuong-185230815004613946.htm