The doctors had no idea of ​​the terrible illness he was in for Devid: it all started with knee pain

Knee pain was not suspicious for orthopedic surgeons: X-ray needed to be claimed

He was agile, active and communicative – that was Devidas until he encountered an oncological disease. The boy's mother, Victoria Ivanenkova, remembers that something was wrong when the boy began complaining of recurrent knee pain.

"One day, he jumped from his bed at home and entered the storage pbadage. There was nothing – not even crying, just so much. Because here, children who run all flee, fall and there is nothing. We did not pay attention, but a week later, he began to complain of leg pain. We took the child to the outpatient clinic but we did not do anything. I learned from the eye that there was a slight trauma, a sprain and he brought me home, "recalls Victoria.

Sometimes the pain decreased, sometimes she came back – the boy had been tortured for three months. During this time, the family visited the orthopedist three times, who saw nothing of suspicion and refused to do an x-ray. Over the past two weeks, the boy has been struggling to lift him and taking pain medication.

"I have lacked patience. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and told him: do what you want, but you really need X-rays. Otherwise impossible. The photo immediately showed how this bone was broken. We received a shipment to Santariškės. He did a biopsy and found 100%. bone tumor, "remembers Devid's mother.

The boy was waiting for a long and difficult treatment

Victoria did not immediately realize how insidious this diagnosis was. Jing's sore duct (Ewing) is a rare form of cancer that feeds on bone. When she was interested in the evolution and prognosis of the disease on the Internet, she could no longer look at the screen: tears came immediately to her eyes. The boy was transported to the hospital.

"The doctors told us that we were going to have a long process of treatment. At the time, I could not believe it would take a whole year. The boy receives 7 blocks of chemotherapy. The block is a drip for a few days. In our case, one block covered 4 days. It was a "red" chemistry: the ugliest and most hated patient in oncology. She is very aggressive, nauseated and not everyone accepts this chemistry, "recalls Victoria, beginning the treatment.

As the treatment progressed, the boy was operated on to repair the damaged bone surrounded by soft tissue and to insert a new donor bone. Soft tissues were also collected for a biopsy during surgery to determine if the chemotherapy was effective. Unfortunately, the investigation showed that she did not help the boy. Consilium decided to use the strictest method: bone marrow transplantation.

"The doctors are really nice, encouraging and understanding, they explained everything to us. But the word "transplant" has killed our entire family. All the while I was with the kid, I saw everything. Thank God, there were no complications during the treatment. It's hard to see a child when they can not help it, "says Devid's mother.

Most want a son surrounded by real friends

Two months after the operation, the boy received radiation therapy. Devido waited for 16 irradiations, which lasted about a month and a half. As a result of this treatment, the boy's rehabilitation began and continues to this day. Devidas is recovering slowly: he is still struggling to manage his operated leg.

"Today, he feels better. Smile, walk, socialize, go out in clbad, have fun together. We try to participate somewhere, but the child has changed psychologically. While the mother tries to do something, to have fun, to go somewhere, the child does not want to go anywhere. Sitting in front of the computer is closed. This has affected me a lot, but I hope a lot that over time things will go well, "hopes Victoria.

Today, it is very important for Victoria that her son be surrounded by true friends who support him. She is happy that the boy is doing well at school.

"All is well for this day – a child with honors has finished his fifth year. Until now, we are learning from home with a teaching badistant and from September we will try to go to school one day a week. I really hope that the boy will stand up, at least for a few years, and that eventually we will go to school with our feet, "shares Victoria.

Bone cancer is more common in children and youth

Head of the Cancer Epidemiology Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, dr. Giedrė Smailytė notes that tumors of bone and cartilage tissue are very rare. The global incidence rate is 0.5 to 2 cases per 100 000 population. population. She notes that morbidity is slightly higher among men.

G. Smailytė estimates that 30 to 40 such cases are diagnosed each year in Lithuania. According to her, no major changes in morbidity have been observed in recent decades. He distinguishes three types of tumors attributable to bone cancer.

"Osteosarcoma is the most common malignant bone in the bone. It presents a bimodal morbidity distribution with the highest morbidity rates in the 10-25 age group, followed by an increase in morbidity among 60-year-olds. They develop most often in long bones.

Juw's sarcoma (Ewing) is another tumor, common in children and young people up to 35 years old. Chondrosarcoma does not have a clear pattern of age-related morbidity, but it is more common in people aged 40 and over, "says Smailyt.

Only one-third of Lithuanian patients survive for 5 years

The treatment of bone cancer can be triple and the forms of treatment can be combined with each other, as the case may be. The main form of treatment is surgery, which attempts to remove the tumor. Patients may receive radiation therapy after surgery or on-site, as well as chemotherapy if the cancer reaches other parts of the body.

And what causes bone cancer? According to G. Smailytė, the causes of these tumors are poorly known.

"There is evidence that the onset of osteosarcoma is badociated with exposure to radiation, chemotherapy, parental work in agriculture, crop production, and livestock. Also with size and weight. Juing's sarcoma is more common in children whose parents work in agriculture, exposure to various chemicals used in agriculture and the development of chondrosarcoma are badociated with radiation exposure ", she says.

She also notes that survival rates for these diseases are low. Here, according to EUROCARE-5, the average 5-year survival rate in Europe was 53%. In Lithuania, during the same period, the survival rate was only 32.6%.