SCHOOLGIRL’S ‘GROWTH PAIN’ WAS CANCER
A10-YEAR-OLD girl has begun treatment for an extremely rare bone cancer which was initially dismissed as nothing more than growing pains.
Amelia Spalding, described by her family as having “a wicked sense of humour and endless optimism”, underwent two operations to remove the cancerous bones in her leg during lockdown.
The schoolgirl is now set to continue having chemotherapy for the next 18 weeks in an attempt to rid her body of the disease.
“She’s a very outgoing, bright, sparky, clever little lady,” said her heartbroken dad Tom Spalding. “She’s taken everything in her stride, and she’s got a wonderful smile which has remained on her face throughout.
Tom said he initially thought Amelia, who loves motocross, had suffered a pulled muscle after falling off her bike at the start of the year.
“She had a new motocross for Christmas, which she was pleased as punch with, but she had a little fall on it just a couple of days later when we took it out for the first time,” he recalled. “She sprained the inside of her leg a bit. She fell sideways, she wasn’t even riding it at the time. She sort of fell and half-tripped whilst astride the bike and we thought she’d pulled a muscle.”
But in the days that followed, Tom said he noticed his daughter walking differently. He added: “When we walked to school one morning I noticed that her gait was changing slightly. She couldn’t weight bear as well on that leg, but she said it didn’t hurt at all. So we were watching her closely.”
On April 1, just a couple of weeks into lockdown, Amelia started complaining of being unable to push down on the pedals of her bike.
“It’s only a gentle slope on the estate where we live, so this was unusual,” said Tom, from Montgomery, Powys. “Around her right knee was quite red. It looked a little bit swollen and angry, so we sent some photos to the local GP. They said it’s more than likely growing pains or an aggravated tendon and not to worry.
“But I wasn’t very happy with it so I sent it to my mum, who is a nurse, and she mused on it all night. She was sat on our doorstep the next morning to say we should get it checked out.”
After calling 111, Amelia and her family were told to visit Royal Shrewsbury Hospital where X-rays were carried out. Within hours they were transferred to the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford where they sat down with an on-call oncologist.
“He saw me and pulled me to one side. While Amelia got weighed and measured, he said, ‘I don’t need to see anything else. This is childhood cancer.’
“We thought she had a pulled muscle or maybe just needed some physiotherapy. There was nothing visibly different about her leg. She just couldn’t walk in quite the same way. “It was pretty horrible news.” Amelia was diagnosed with osteoblastic osteosarcoma, a very rare form of childhood cancer. Around 160 people of all ages per year are diagnosed, which equates to one in three million people in the UK.
“It’s as rare as hen’s teeth,” said Tom, a former officer in the Royal Navy. “Based on all the ailments GPs see – and especially not being there in person – it’s really, really hard from them to diagnose from pictures. I don’t lay any blame at their feet.”
Following a nerve-wracking couple of days after CT and MRI scans were carried out, it was revealed that the cancer had not spread anywhere else.
“That was like a champagne moment; a big moment of relief,” he added.
Two weeks later, Amelia began her chemotherapy which led to her losing her hair and being very sick.
“She doesn’t want to eat and she doesn’t want to drink, so she’s lost a lot of weight,” he added. “And she doesn’t want to talk which is very unlike her.”
During lockdown, Tom said only one parent has been allowed into hospital with Amelia during appointments and procedures.
“You’re having to make very big decisions through video calls and conferences because you can’t both be in attendance,” he said.
“You feel completely left out of the treatment side when you can’t be in hospital. That is really challenging.”
During the operations on her leg at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, Tom said he didn’t see Amelia for an entire month.
“Myself and my son Sam are a father-son racing team in a British superbike class. We went down for a track day at Brands Hatch to give Sam something to look forward to during this awful time.
“We actually called past Stanmore hospital, dropped off some food for Amelia and my wife Nicky. We were not allowed in, so we stood 10 feet away from the window of their hospital room and gave them a wave.”
“That’s as close as we got to them in more than a month. It was really sad.”
Amelia’s right thighbone, knee and the top part of her shin had to be removed and replaced by a titanium frame.
A long road of physiotherapy is now ahead of her, and it remains to be seen whether she will be able to ride her beloved bike again.
Tom has now set up a GoFundMe page in a bid to give Amelia a repeat of a “dream” holiday that family enjoyed in Germany and the Netherlands three years ago.
“On our itinerary was a trip to [the theme park] Eftling. She was 2cm too short to go on one of Eftling’s most daring roller coasters at the time and was mortified when she found out she was too small to go on the ride.
“Three years later, I’m sure she will be tall enough.”