Just two days after my 28th birthday is when my whole world was changed. I went in for pain in my left leg and weakness to the point where my leg was giving out on me while walking. After an x-ray, it was determined I had a break in the neck of my femur. Several tests later, I heard the dreaded word; cancer. After 3 biopsies and a month spent in a hospital 4 hours from home, I was finally given my diagnosis; Pseudomyogenic Hemangioendothelioma. Yeah… I couldn’t pronounce it at first either.
We started on months of chemo and finally on October 30, 2018 I was ready to have my surgery to remove the tumor, replace my femur/hip joint, and have part of my pelvis removed and replaced with a custom built implant. Everything seemed to be going well and I went back in to start chemo only to find out I had an infection. Away from home we went again to get the infection looked at only to be told that the cancer had returned. Now I had only 2 options, let the cancer grow and kill me or have my leg amputated.
With a 2 year old and wife, it is a pretty easy decision to make but my amputation wasn’t a “standard” one. It was a hemipelvectomy. This means that not only was my leg removed but the entire left half of my pelvis was removed as well. I had struck the proverbial lottery not just once but TWICE! My cancer has only 130ish cases recorded in medical literature and a hemipelvectomy amputation is one of the rarest and most complicated surgeries there are.
I survived it all and am currently in No Evidence of Disease status for my cancer and learning to live life on one leg.
The Peg Leg Dad 