Brave girl, 12, who survived cancer after docs reattached her leg backwards starts running with new prosthetic blade
A brave schoolgirl who survived cancer after doctors reattached her leg backwards has now started to run with a new prosthetic blade.
There is no stopping 12 year old Amelia Eldred as she gears up to run in a competitive Community Games event in April with her new blade.
Her blade was fitted last January and has allowed her to come on in leaps and bounds, and fulfil her dreams of acting, dancing and running, after her cancer battle.
Mum Michelle, 49, who works in a communications department, said: “Amelia is thrilled with her blade. It’s given her so much more flexibility to do the things she wants to do.
“She always loved athletics before having cancer. And now its allowed her to run for the first time.”
Amelia’s battle began when she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma – the most common type of bone cancer – in August 2017.
In a life changing procedure – called rotationplasty – doctors amputated her knee and part of her leg, then re-attached her foot and joints back to front to create a new knee.
Rotationplasty is a procedure offered to children with bone cancer around their knee joints.
The cancerous bone is removed, and the lower leg rotated 180 degrees and reattached.
The foot and ankle then function as a knee joint which allows the patient to wear more functional below knee prosthetics.
The amazing operation allowed Amelia to beat the disease and wear a prosthetic leg.
Michelle, who is married to husband Richard, 46, a project portfolio manager, and lives in Tamworth, said: “Amelia never complained about having to have the operation.
“She watched a YouTube video of a girl who had the same operation and became a dancer and it inspired her.
“She said she wanted to be like her, and as she went into surgery, the last thing she said was ‘bye bye tumour, see you loser.’
“She had such a strong attitude and we were so proud of her.
“It’s quite a controversial procedure and people do a double take if they have never seen it before, because her foot is backwards. But we knew that she had a much higher chance of a long and fulfilling life if the procedure went well.”
The operation was a success, and afterwards Amelia was fitted with a prosthetic leg which allowed her to walk.
But last January she was fitted with a new sports blade that allowed her to run for the first time.
Michelle said: ‘She loves dancing and running and now she can do both. Her back to front foot acts as a knee joint now, and the blade fits on that.
‘We had to wait until she had grown tall enough to be fitted with it, so the blade could get clearance from the ground. Prior to having cancer she was always competing in athletics and this new blade has changed her life.
‘She loves rock climbing, running, archery, there’s no stopping her. She went to Amp Camp in Tenerife last summer which is a fitness holiday camp for children who have gone through an amputation and she loved that.
‘She’s also doing musical theatre with her group 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 recently and it was amazing to watch her.
‘Another little girl was watching the production who also had a prosthetic leg, and she told us afterwards that Amelia had inspired her so much, that she was going to join the theatre group too, which was lovely to hear.’