Yadam receives treatment in a hospital in Beijing.
By Venus Lee
Khaltum Ummi Yadam, 16, a sophomore high school student at Beanstalk International Bilingual School, lost a leg to bone cancer two years ago. Far from being defeated by the disease, Yadam has touched everyone around her with her optimism and self-confidence.
Life-defining
knee pain
You can say that Yadam has led an extraordinary life. At 13, she was diagnosed with bone cancer on her left knee. A series of hospital visits and treatments followed.
“In March 2006, I felt a mild pain in my knee, but I ignored it. I thought the pain was caused by overexercising because I ran a lot,” Yam said.
A bone specialist in her hometown of Plateau State, Jos, Nigeria, misdiagnosed her condition as arthritis; treatment was ineffective and her pain worsened. She was moved to another hospital where she requested an X-ray. It showed abnormalities on her knee bone, which another doctor diagnosed as osteomyelitis – a rare bone infection.She was treated with strong doses of antibiotics. Again, the treatment failed and her knee swelled with pain. “I was then referred to an orthopedist who suspected I had cancer,” Yadam said. The pain got so bad at one point she could only get around wi crutches.
A biopsy confirmed she had osteosarcoma – the mos common type of bone cancer, which largely strikes teenagers and young adults. “I was so uninformed about cancer because my parents were worried I wouldn’t bear hearing the bad news. But when I found out, I was glad thcause of my pain was identified. The doctors could already treat me with the right medicine and I would be back on my feet in no time,” she said
