Walking tall at 18, bone cancer survivor who was left with one leg longer than the other
WHEN she was just eight years old, Sophie Hartley fought – and beat – bone cancer.
But the lifesaving treatment had a painful legacy and Miss Hartley, now 18, was left with one leg more than an inch longer than the other.
Even after 11 operations, the teenager was forced to wear surgical shoes every day to compensate for the difference – and dreamed of being able to step into the stylish high heels her friends wore.
Now, though, Miss Hartley is walking tall at last after an agonising four-month procedure to lengthen her leg. And she has wasted no time in amassing an impressive collection of high heels.
She said: ‘When the doctors suggested this procedure, I knew I had to give it a
‘I bought stilettos before the surgery’
try. I used to think ahead to my wedding day and get upset that I wouldn’t get to wear a pair of beautiful wedding shoes.’
Doctors fitted her with an Ilizarov frame – a cage-like structure which sits around a break in the tibia (shin), and is inserted into the bone either side of the break. Each day, the frame pulls the two pieces of bone further apart, encouraging more and more new bone to form while healing the break – and ultimately lengthening the leg by 0.04 inches a day.
Miss Hartley, from Slough, Berkshire, said: ‘I knew the cage would mean I could wear heels and I wouldn’t be in pain or have a limp any more. I bought myself a pair of black stilettos before the surgery, and each day I had the cage on, they were a reminder of why I was going through all this. When I finally had the cage off, I put the heels on for the first time – I could only manage it for about 20 seconds, but they were the best 20 seconds of my life. Now, I love indulging in a new pair of shoes all the time.’
After being diagnosed with cancer in her right femur when she was eight, Miss Hartley had a knee replacement and a year of chemotherapy before she was given the all-clear. She said: ‘The knee replacement stopped my leg from growing properly, so every time I grew an inch, I had to have my leg lengthened.
‘I was only nine when I became cancerfree and I still had a lot of growing to do, so I was always having operations.’
But the latest treatment has let the art student put all of that behind her. She said: ‘I had to learn to walk again and have intensive physiotherapy. But finally, after a decade, my legs were the same length, and I could start wearing the shoes I’d always dreamed of.’