Eleven-year-old girl diagnosed with rare bone cancer after symptoms dismissed as “growing pains”
A young girl who thought her symptoms were just “growing pains” was later diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.
When 11-year-old Ivie Adams began complaining of pain, it was her mother’s first concern. At first she thought it was due to age or exhaustion from exercise.
However, Ivie’s mother Zoe, 47, became even more worried after Ivie went for a walk in the middle of the night and complained of pain.
This prompted Zoe to call her GP to make an appointment, but was told it would not be for another five weeks. Instead, she found herself queuing outside her GP’s surgery at 7am the next morning.
“It was a stroke of luck because an X-ray showed she had bone cancer in her femur,” Zoe explains. “It’s scary to think what could have happened if she hadn’t been screened early.”
After a biopsy, it was discovered that Ivie suffered from high-grade malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that affects only one in 100,000 people.
“Although I didn’t think much of it when I was diagnosed, all I knew was that I didn’t want to die,” Ivie says.
“The first round of chemotherapy was really horrible because it made me sick and I was scared it would happen again with the second dose.”
Zoe says the initial exposure to Ivie’s diagnosis was “horrific,” as were the “months of hell” Ivie had to endure to fight cancer.
The chemotherapy caused the student to lose her hair and doctors decided to replace Ivie’s femur with an artificial hip and knee joint. The latter meant she had to learn to walk again and required extensive physical therapy to enable her to bend her knee.
However, Ivie is now considered cancer-free and will need to have regular check-ups over the next two years to monitor her condition.
Back at school, Ivie and her family want to raise awareness about rare cancers with no clear symptoms so that tumors can be detected early.
“We both want to help people recognise the symptoms of bone cancer, called sarcomas, and to help any families who have to go through what we have had to go through,” says Zoe.
“Ivie is an inspiration and has a great story to tell to help people like her in the community.”
What is MPNST?
Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor is a cancer of cells that can grow in the soft tissues of the body and spread rapidly.
It accounts for only 5 to 10% of sarcoma cases, which are rare cancers. The most common symptoms of MPNST are pain, weakness, and a growing lump under the skin.
Treatment may include chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery.
Do not hesitate to talk to your doctor if you experience any unusual symptoms.
Additional reporting by SWNS.
