Bethan Evan, a six-year-old British girl who recently recovered from a
rare form of bone and tissue cancer, knows what it's like to be in two
places at once.
The Daily Mail reports that In order to treat the young girl for the life-threatening disease, surgeons had to amputate her arm, treat it at a location three miles away, and then reattach it.
Evan underwent the remarkable eight-hour procedure in July 2012, a few months after she was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma — a rare cancer that affects about 30 U.K. children each year.
"When we were told it was cancer we held it together until we got to the car and I just wanted to go home, I was distraught," said Evan's mother, Lynne. "When the doctors told us the surgeons would remove her arm we were shocked, we couldn't believe it."
However, the doctors insisted that the procedure was the only viable option.
"As a parent you want to protect your children but we were being told the only way to remove the cancer was to amputate her arm, have it driven across a city to another hospital before being driven back and sewn back on," she continued.
Before procedure in July, Evan endured eight weeks of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor in her left arm. On the day of the surgery, doctors at the Royal Orthopedic Hospital in Birmingham amputated the arm at the shoulder, packaged it with ice, and sent it by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital three miles away.
There, a team of doctors killed additional cancer cells by putting the arm through intense radiation. The tumor was then removed, and the arm was re-packed, sent back to its young owner, and reattached by surgeons.
"It has been a rollercoaster journey and we couldn't be prouder of Bethan. She has gone through so much for such a little girl but she has never stopped smiling," her mother said.
Evan is now cancer-free, but will need regular check-ups until she is 18. In September, she hopes to be back in school with her friends, pursuing her dream of one day becoming a nurse.
SOURCE: http://www.medicaldaily.com
The Daily Mail reports that In order to treat the young girl for the life-threatening disease, surgeons had to amputate her arm, treat it at a location three miles away, and then reattach it.
Evan underwent the remarkable eight-hour procedure in July 2012, a few months after she was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma — a rare cancer that affects about 30 U.K. children each year.
"When we were told it was cancer we held it together until we got to the car and I just wanted to go home, I was distraught," said Evan's mother, Lynne. "When the doctors told us the surgeons would remove her arm we were shocked, we couldn't believe it."
However, the doctors insisted that the procedure was the only viable option.
"As a parent you want to protect your children but we were being told the only way to remove the cancer was to amputate her arm, have it driven across a city to another hospital before being driven back and sewn back on," she continued.
Before procedure in July, Evan endured eight weeks of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor in her left arm. On the day of the surgery, doctors at the Royal Orthopedic Hospital in Birmingham amputated the arm at the shoulder, packaged it with ice, and sent it by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital three miles away.
There, a team of doctors killed additional cancer cells by putting the arm through intense radiation. The tumor was then removed, and the arm was re-packed, sent back to its young owner, and reattached by surgeons.
"It has been a rollercoaster journey and we couldn't be prouder of Bethan. She has gone through so much for such a little girl but she has never stopped smiling," her mother said.
Evan is now cancer-free, but will need regular check-ups until she is 18. In September, she hopes to be back in school with her friends, pursuing her dream of one day becoming a nurse.
SOURCE: http://www.medicaldaily.com
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