When Hannah started her 2024 season with the Columbus Running Company Grasshoppers youth running club, she began complaining of knee pain. Thinking it was a sports injury like a sprain or pulled muscle, her parents brought her to Nationwide Children's Hospital sports medicine clinic. Imaging results of Hannah’s knee revealed something far worse than expected, her injury turned out to be an osteosarcoma tumor between her knee and tibia.
Hannah immediately began chemotherapy and 10 weeks later, underwent surgery to remove the tumor and to reconstruct her knee and tibia with a metal implant. Surgery was a success, and Hannah has been working hard at regaining mobility and independence.
“The care we've received at Nationwide Children's has meant everything to us,” shares Hannah’s mom, Julie. “We knew living in Columbus that we are fortunate to be right by a best-in-class children’s hospital. What we could not have imagined going into this journey is the second family we would build with the oncology and orthopedic teams.”
Post-surgery, Hannah underwent additional rounds of inpatient chemotherapy but was able to find enjoyment in her hospital stays thanks to the friendships she built with her care teams. Throughout her treatment plan, she remained positive with the mantra “never lose your sparkle.”
Today, she has completed treatment and is doing great. She is continuing physical therapy for mobility with her implant and has regular checkups with the limb clinic and oncology team. Though she will not be able to return to the same competitive sports she enjoyed before her diagnosis, Hannah is looking forward to getting back to her active lifestyle.
We are determined to make each step count by fundraising to cure, mend, comfort and save the estimated one million children who will walk through the hospital doors this year. Children from all 50 states and more than 60 countries. Your contribution helps kids everywhere through life-saving research and care.
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