Below, she shares her experience as a cancer patient and critical care nurse.
I first noticed pain in my leg in April 2024 after enrolling with a personal trainer. Behind my knee began to ache during exercise, which gradually worsened and eventually became constant while walking.
By August my calf was swollen, hot to touch, and visibly larger on one side. A nurse at work flagged it, and a consultant attempted to take a scan of my leg. When he couldn't locate a vein, I was sent to the A&E department to rule out a blood clot.
Unfortunately, at A&E, my concerns were dismissed after mentioning personal training and I was bounced between departments. While the doctors believed it to be a cyst, the swelling and pain worsened, especially at night.
In November, after a telephone consultation with my GP and weeks without follow-up, I visited my local walk-in centre. Here, they suspected a blood clot and sent me for an urgent ultrasound scan.
I was told that my scan looked "suspicious", and the consultant told me they had already been in touch with the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital in Oswestry to get the ball rolling.
I couldn't believe how quickly things were moving in such a short space of time.
By the time they caught my cancer, which was Spindle Cell Sarcoma of the Bone, my calf was six centimetres bigger than normal. The next big shock came when the consultant showed me my scans and said:
There's no way I can operate on this.
Chemotherapy wouldn't be able to shrink the tumour enough, and so amputation was my only option. I thought back to the times when my leg would be hurting, and I would say to myself 'just cut the thing off'... that didn't age well!
After surgery, I was offered post-operative chemotherapy. I spoke to my oncologist, who told me there was a 50/50 chance I would face recurrence, and chemotherapy may influence that by around five per cent at best. Learning about the side effects, the infections, losing my hair... I decided that five per cent wasn't worth it for me.
If I went through chemotherapy and delayed getting a new leg, getting back to work, and getting my life back only for the cancer to return, I would feel as if it were all for nothing. I decided that if it returned, I would deal with it.
Transitioning from nurse to patient was surreal. I couldn't believe the hospital I had worked at for four years I was now a patient in. Thankfully, my surgery went well, and my scar healed as it should. My recovery was smooth — I was only in hospital for a week, and I was discharged on Christmas Eve.
I was so grateful to make it home in time for Christmas.
My life changed drastically after my diagnosis. I moved in with my dad, and even basic movements were painful because I was so sore from surgery. I had to adjust to life in a wheelchair, and then to using crutches as much as possible.
I have been given my first prosthetic, which is a very basic one to get me going, and it's much harder than I thought it would be. I've been doing balancing exercises in my physiotherapy sessions, and if I'm not worried about falling out of my prosthetic, my left hip starts to ache.
However, I've seen people coming into clinic and they're naturals, so I know I'll get there eventually.
Since getting my prosthetic, I have been able to get out to town with my friends and partner, shop, and go to the theatre. As much as getting a prosthetic is an adjustment, it doesn't have to limit my life in any way.
It will only limit me as much as I let it, and I don't plan to let it at all!
One of the biggest lessons I have learned is to accept that some things are simply out of our control. I had no say in being diagnosed with cancer, all I can do is have a say in what comes next. I focus my mind on things I can control — using my prosthetic and enjoying every moment life gives me.
No matter how scary and daunting the journey is, try and find one positive each day, no matter how small. It helps keep you afloat and stops you spiraling which can come with a diagnosis like this.
My other advice is try not to panic and take it as it comes. My surgeons operated with the aim of curing me, and I hope this is still the case, but I'm more focused on getting my life back than I am worried about the cancer returning.
As a healthcare professional myself, I wish we had more knowledge about primary bone cancer in order to rule it out. Had my scan been carried out in August when I first presented with symptoms, who knows how different things could've been.
I hope to use the new perspective I have gained as a cancer patient to educate other healthcare professionals on sarcoma, how devastating it can be, and the importance of early diagnosis.
It's critical to be aware that young people can get cancer too, and their concerns need to be taken seriously.
When you hear the word cancer, you ultimately think ‘this is it I'm going to die', but through my own journey I am coming to realise that a cancer diagnosis does not mean my life is over. There’s still so much for me to enjoy, there's so much that I can do, and I intend to enjoy everything I can!
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