World Cancer Day: 6-year-old Achintya’s battle with bone cancer

To mark World Cancer Day on Tuesday, all through this week myUpchar will bring to you stories about cancer survivors, their families, as well as cancer surgeons and doctors. For the first story in this series, we spoke to the family of six-year-old Achintya, who underwent surgery for a rare type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma. [caption id=“attachment_7995821” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image source: Getty Images.[/caption] Osteosarcoma begins in the cells that form bones. Tumorous cells begin to affect bones which are structurally weaker, leading to swelling and pain. This type of cancer usually affects the long bones such as those in the limbs. Boys, and those going through “growth spurts”, are more susceptible to the disease. It is seen more often in children than in adults, with most cases under 25 years of age. The cause has been attributed to genetic factors, but further research needs to be conducted on this. This story was narrated by Achintya’s parents, Preeti and Naveen. Edited excerpts: Achintya is full of life, humour and gives us immense joy. Right now he is like a sponge; he listens to everything we say and thinks about it deeply, so we are a little careful about what we say around him. On 16 August last year, Achintya was playing in school when he fell and bruised himself badly. When he came home, he was in pain. Doctors were consulted and they said the body would heal itself in time. We waited two months for it to heal and Achintya somehow managed his daily chores. We thought that this phase would pass, but his pain didn’t go away.   He would get up at night in pain and wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep even after we gave him painkillers. After two months, we started getting concerned and got an MRI of the right thigh, where the injury was. The scan suggested some abnormalities, so the doctors recommended a needle biopsy, and then an open biopsy to confirm what they feared. We were shocked to find out it was bone cancer.   We were devastated. But we made sure not to say anything too scary around Achintya. It was crucial that he remained positive and not scared. Luckily, Achintya’s uncle is a doctor. He recommended that we speak to a specialist: Dr Vivek Verma.   As for ourselves, we just knew we had to be strong; what other choice is there? We had strong treatment options at our disposal and family to look after us. Now, it was our responsibility to maintain a positive environment at home. Yes, it is a scary disease and so unfortunate that it happened to our son. But that is not in our control; all we could do was remain hopeful. We believe that positivity had a good impact on Achintya and helped him heal - even as we made multiple trips to Max Hospital in Vaishali for his treatment. Everyone, the doctors included, recommended that we get second, third, fourth opinions. It was reassuring getting other perspectives and we didn’t feel rushed into making a decision. It is so crucial to be involved with doctors who are receptive to your emotional state.   With Achintya, prosthesis was not an option because of his age. But we had to act aggressively on the part of the femur that was infected. That was when it was decided that an orthopaedic oncologist was best suited to perform an intervention. The surgeons removed the part of the femur that was infected. It was then sent to a lab for intense radiotherapy. The body can’t be exposed to that concentration of radiation, so the affected area needs to be removed first. Once this was done, the femur was implanted back into the body. It is a complicated procedure and took 20 hours to complete. Thankfully, he recovered well from it. He was kept under observation for 10 days and then released. He is still in a cast and on a wheelchair and it will be a while before he can walk. However, he is able to study and play video games as he pleases. He loves watching videos on our phones as well.   His school has been cooperative and his teacher even comes to check in on him. We are hoping that he will be able to go back soon.   For now, chemotherapy will continue so that we are assured that the cancer is eradicated. We know that it will be gone; he has responded so well to it. The usual side effects have been there and we know that we will make it through this. For more information, read our article on   Bone Cancer_._ Health articles in Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, India’s first and biggest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health.