My niece plays on a women's hockey team... she's the youngest by a fair bit. Her coach and the captain are a married couple with 2 young kids, a 3 year old boy and a 15 month old girl. The kids are regular rink rats... the little boy has recently learned the national anthem and will sing it at some of their games.
Recently, the parents noticed a large bruise on her right leg. They were concerned enough that they took her to see a doctor, who sent her to specialists where she was diagnosed with
Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, a fast growing, highly malignant tumour.
Yesterday she underwent a 7-hour surgery (much less than the expected 9-12 hours) where her leg was amputated above her knee. The cool part is the doctors took her ankle, turned it around, and created a knee for her which will make it a lot easier for her later to use a prosthetic leg. Tomorrow she'll be put in a full body cast (from the armpit down) for 6 weeks. After that's removed, she'll undergo 30 weeks of chemo. (remember, the little tyke is only 15 months)
She's in good spirits - her mom drew a happy face on her cast and she awoke to her brother's rendidtion of O Canada - but her form of cancer is rare and has an extremely low survival rate.
The family has lots of support from family and friends as well as the hockey world, but prayers are always welcomed.
What a heartbreaker.
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![[cry]](./images/smilies/crybaby.gif "Cry Baby")
