From being a patient diagnosed with osteosarcoma at the age of 11, S. Subasree’s dream of donning the white coat has come true. The 17-year-old, who underwent resection of the distal femur with the entire left knee joint and reconstruction with a prosthesis in 2016, is all set to study medicine at Madras Medical College, moving a step closer to her goal of specialising in surgical oncology.
When she was 11, a constant pain in her left leg led to a diagnosis that left her parents, S. Sankar and Kalaiselvi, shocked. In a 9-month struggle, they saw her go through six cycles of chemotherapy and a complicated surgery, and cope with a prosthesis. But the pain and the struggle only made Subasree stronger. “I had the desire to become a doctor from a young age. This disease only made my desire even stronger. In cancer, the body will have no strength, but your mind needs to have the will power to fight. I thought to myself that If I become an oncologist, I will be an example to my patients,” she said.
“At the Cancer Institute (WIA), we diagnosed Subasree with osteosarcoma (bone tumour) that affected a part of the thigh bone, the femur. Usually, in a surgery, we go through the joint (trans-articular resection) to remove the bone cancer. In her case, the surgery was complicated due to knee joint involvement. We went outside the joint and had to perform an extra-articular resection, in which we removed the entire knee joint along with the cancer as one block. Extra-articular resections are complicated procedures and are not easy to perform,” said Anand Raja, professor, Department of Surgical Oncology, Cancer Institute.
Venkatraman Radhakrishnan, professor and head of Medical Oncology at the institute, said she underwent three cycles of chemotherapy prior to surgery to reduce the size of the tumour, give time for surgeons to make the prosthesis and control the disease spread, and another three cycles of chemotherapy post-surgery.
Subasree received a modular prosthesis for reconstruction, Dr. Raja said, adding, “In this, the sizes are variable. We pick and choose depending on the resection, assemble and fit on the table. It gives a little more flexibility.”
Since then, Subasree has not missed periodic check-ups, said Chandra Kumar Krishnan, associate professor, Department of Surgical Oncology. “In six years, there has been no disease recurrence. We do a clinical examination to check for lumps or swelling, and take X-ray for the local part and the chest,” he said.
“She was in surgery on her birthday (July 10). She put up a fight, and trained to use her leg post-surgery and prosthesis. I am really happy with how far she has come, but I keep telling her that this is only the beginning and she has a lot to achieve,” Subasree’s mother said. Her father, who works in the despatch section of a private firm, said they had to shift from their third floor rented house to the ground floor, following her diagnosis.
Arvind Krishnamurthy, professor and head of Surgical Oncology, Cancer Institute, said their focus was more on rehabilitation and integration of patients into normal life. “The focus is on survivorship and complete rehabilitation so that they can do whatever they dream of doing,” he said. As Subasree summed up: “To patients like me, be confident. Dream a lot, and believe in overcoming the disease.”