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It was a cold morning in early December 2016, when Melissa Unger received a call to work that changed the life of her family forever.
She heard a doctor on the other end saying "the words that no parent wants to hear, that your child has a mass on the femur and that you have an appointment this afternoon with an oncologist pediatric, "said Unger.
For the Ungers and their 12 year old daughter, Delaney, a dedicated dancer since the age of 3, the news was devastating. Delaney had a rare and aggressive bone cancer called knee osteosarcoma, which would require chemotherapy and amputation of the left knee.
Her future as a dancer seemed finished.
But this brave girl took an unusual course. Today, Delaney seems to show no signs of cancer. She keeps a contagious smile on her face and even resumed training as a lyric, hip-hop and jazz dancer – although she now has a left leg back.
A ray of hope
According to the American Cancer Society, osteosarcoma affects fewer than 1,000 people a year in the United States and about half are children and adolescents.
Cancer can develop anywhere but normally attacks the child's rapidly growing knee, said Dr. Fazel Khan, an orthopedic surgeon at Stony Brook Medicine in New York, who treated Delaney.
According to Khan, more than 90% of patients undergo massive knee replacement surgery, which in a growing child is unstable and limits the ability to do intensive activities such as dance or sports.
However, because of Delaney's cancer localization, the Ungers had another option: a rare procedure called rotationplasty.
"His cancer was really knee and nowhere below the knee," said Khan. "His ankle, his foot, the lower part of his calf, all those muscles, all his nerves and even his ankle were completely intact."
Instead of an amputation above the knee, Khan said that they would cut under the knee and that "rather than throwing ankle, leg, foot and some muscles in the lower calf , we take the ankle, calf, foot and we use it to make a new knee.
In other words, the ankle, turned 180 degrees, works like the new knee. His ankle is where his knee would be, since his leg was connected to his femur.
Doctors say that they keep their foot because the toes provide important sensory feedback to the brain.
Delaney's father, Noah Unger, said he was told that by having a natural knee joint, instead of a prosthetic joint, Delaney would be able to do "jumps, jumps, jumps" that the dance needs.
"So, that's the reason for the rotation," he explained. "You use a natural seal in the direction it is supposed to go."
Delaney would then have a whole foot where his old knee had been, pointing back. A lower leg prosthesis would fit on the back foot, giving it an artificial leg and foot.
"A chance to try and fail"
The family knew it would be a stunning sight, a foot facing the opposite. Mom Melissa was worried. After all, Delaney, who lives in Selden, New York, would soon be a teenager, going to parties, meeting people who will not know her story.
They discussed options in a family group, said Noah, until Delaney spoke.
"She looked at Melissa and said," I'd rather have a chance to try to fail so I have no chance, "Noah remembers. "And this surgery was the only chance she had ever had to do what she wanted to do."
The 13-hour surgery was held at Stony Brook's Children's Hospital in New York City in April 2017, followed by chemotherapy and a prosthesis below her new knee – which the family affectionately dubbed the "Knankle".
Recovery was difficult. "She had to learn to be flexible and things like that in the opposite direction … so there is definitely a learning curve," Melissa said.
"You really have to reconnect your brain," Noah said.
But Delaney had one goal: to resume the dance and try for the school kickline team, something that she always wanted to do.
"I wanted to be normal again," she said. "I wanted to make sure I could do most of the things that all my friends did and that I could follow them."
An unforgettable moment
For Khan and Dr. Jason Ganz, another surgeon on the 13-hour operation, Delaney's spirit was inspiring.
"I've never met anyone who had such a clear vision of what she needed," said Ganz, adding that Delaney was constantly smiling.
"Whenever she was in the hospital, every time I saw her, she had the same smile, which is amazing."
Delaney's positive attitude was an important part of his journey, they said, and helped his quick recovery.
"She exhausts us all with the speed with which she progresses with dancing and walking," Khan said. "We have videos of her walking, and when she has pants, it's almost impossible to say that she has undergone an operation to begin."
When doctors first saw videos of Delaney recovering and dancing later, they both choked.
"Literally, there were tears in both of our eyes," Khan said. "I'm so happy to see her free of cancer, so happy to see her come back to the thing she wanted to do."
Ganz added, "I have a girl of her age. It was certainly a moment that will make my life a strong moment: to see her walking, to see her smile, to see her dancing. It was just amazing. I will never forget that.
This weekend, Delaney and her family plan to travel to Washington to attend a childhood cancer rally called CureFest. There, she will champion funding for cancer research in children and perform a dance routine on stage.
As for the future, "she has her whole life ahead of her," Melissa said. "We wanted to give her the best chance of doing as much as she wanted and not being limited. We really feel like we have made a good decision.
Although doctors say they have managed to eliminate all cancers, about a third of patients with osteosarcoma are expected to relapse, so Delaney will need to be monitored for the rest of his life.
What would Delaney say to the other children who might be in his situation?
"What I would say to another teenager with cancer is to keep her personality," she said. "When I heard that I had cancer, I said," I want to be a source of inspiration and I did not stop smiling and doing that. " that I always did.
"Do not say" I can not. "Try it, and if you can not do it, that's fine, but if you've never tried it, you should do it. stop on the road, but you have to keep going. "
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