Michelle Eldred’s daughter, Amelia, was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2017 on her seventh birthday. Here, Michelle tells us about a pioneering procedure which helped Amelia remain active after a leg amputation.
Amelia was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her left thigh bone. She received a few months of chemo before we were told the high-grade tumour wasn’t shrinking, and she needed to have her leg amputated from her hip or another type of amputation called ‘rotationplasty’. Amelia chose rotationplasty, which was a quite rare procedure in the UK. It involved amputating her femur and knee to remove the tumour but saving her lower leg and foot and reattaching to the top of her thigh, backwards.
When we were told about this procedure, it was difficult to fully understand, so we went home to research it. We googled rotationplasty as there simply wasn’t enough information on the procedure without looking for visuals. We found a YouTube video of a girl in America, who also had osteosarcoma and had this procedure when she was nine. We were blown away with how active this girl was following the procedure and how she fitted a prosthetic leg and how she could dance.
Amelia was always an active child and loved dancing and sports. We were inspired to see this young girl, called Gabi, with great mobility and showed Amelia the same video. I’ll never forget Amelia’s words after watching the video. She simply said, “Wow, I’m going to be like her”, and the decision was made. We’re so thankful to Gabi for sharing this video and, through the power of social media, I’ve been able to say “thank you” to her myself.
Amelia never complained about having to have the operation. She said she wanted to be like Gabi, and as she went into surgery, the last thing she said was, “bye bye, tumour, see you, loser”. It’s quite a controversial procedure and people do a double-take if they’ve never seen it before, because her foot is backwards. But we knew that she had a much higher chance of survival and being able to walk again with a prosthesis, if the procedure went well.
We’re so grateful that the surgery proved to be very successful, and Amelia is now using her fourth prosthetic leg, plus a sports blade leg. She first challenged herself to dance again as soon as she could use a prosthesis, with her first dance taking place at an awards ceremony with her surgeon, Professor Lee Jeys! Then, last year, she was able to have a sports blade leg that allowed her to run for the first time.
Amelia now enjoys rock climbing, running, archery, dancing, swimming - there’s no stopping her! She went to a children’s amputee camp in Tenerife last summer, which is a funded group that provides holiday camps for children and their families who have gone through an amputation. Amelia loved this and has grown more confident from her Amp Camp Kids experience. She’s now fundraising to help other amputee children from the UK to attend this life-changing camp.
She’s also doing musical theatre with a group called The Wings Family, and her blade has given her so much more confidence to get on stage. She’s danced in a production of Peter Pan last Christmas, where a little girl was watching the production who also had a prosthetic leg. After the show, she told Amelia that she had inspired her so much, and that she was going to join the theatre group, too.
We’re so proud of Amelia’s determination and attitude to always push herself and, as she says, “anyone can achieve their dreams if they challenge themselves”. Her main goal now is to inspire other children with disabilities and help them become confident and proud of who they are, just like Gabi in America did with her YouTube video. Through her fundraising, performances and some public speaking, Amelia is certainly achieving this.
From Contact magazine issue 102 - Spring 2024
