Daughter(28) diagnosed with bone cancer 😞 Anyone else have family member newly diagnosed (with any cancer)? Let's support each other

[SmockAndBeret]

My daughter was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma (type of bone cancer) this week. It's large and looks like it's been growing a long time inside her femur. She's awaiting a PET scan to check for any metastasis, and will have surgery in February regardless of what PET scan shows.
Surgery is huge and awful: complete removal of her femur, part of her hip and knee, to be replaced with titanium.
She's being really positive and upbeat, but the whole thing is just pure horror. I'm really struggling.

Does anyone else have a young person or other loved one recently diagnosed with cancer?

I wanted to bump this @SmockAndBeret

I am so sorry to hear about your daughter. That must be extremely difficult for you and your family.

Wishing your daughter the very best in her treatment.

Thinking of you @SmockAndBeret ❤️ I have recently been the (relatively young!) person with cancer; I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2024 when I was in my mid thirties. It was hellish for my poor Mum, as we'd lost my Dad to cancer about 18 months before my diagnosis.

Wishing you and your DD all the best for thee treatment. Please speak to Macmillan or whoever runs the cancer services in your area - my immediate family were entitled to free counselling when I was diagnosed. It might help you to speak to someone about this x

Thank you both. Haven't contacted any support services yet, but I will.

How are you doing now, @WhiteJeans7 ?

I'm in remission, thank you @SmockAndBeret. The treatment was hard but I was lucky that it was pretty short lived. I'm back at work part time and am now trying to focus on living a healthy lifestyle. I feel good most of the time but it look quite a few months after my treatment ended to get here. I finished in March last year.

The worry of it possibly returning hasn't gone away and won't for some years ahead but I'm concentrating on enjoying my life and spending as much time with my DD as I can.

I'm glad to hear you're in remission and enjoying life with your daughter @WhiteJeans7

I’m sorry to hear your daughter’s news.
A friend’s husband has a type of bone cancer, not sure if it’s the same type, but she’s been finding the Myeloma Minutes podcast really helpful, as it talks through all the treatment options and what to expect.
Wishing you all the very best 💐

Big, big hugs to you.

My son was diagnosed with non hodgkins lymphoma in 2024 when he was 8. Generally, surgery doesn't usually happen with NHL but my son had lymphoma in his bowel which caused a bowel obstruction and he ended up with a stoma and several bowel surgeries including reversing his stoma when he had finished treatment.

I wish you and your daughter the best xx

I am so sorry and sending you and your DD lots of love.

When they test for stage 4 this is the most terrifying part but the vast majority don't have stage 4. It is common for lots of random other things to show and sometimes they need to do more scans but these are generally benign.

There is a lot of support for cancer - if money might be a concern Macmillan are good at benefits advice like ESA, PIP, UC depending on circumstances. There are specialist charities for different cancer. There's also an organisation called SomethingToLookforwardto which gives out days out and holidays to cancer patients, sometimes have to apply a few times but they are amazing. Treatment can be very difficult and an emotional rollercoaster but often people recover and resume their lives afterwards, not exactly as before but with plenty to look forward to. There's help with fertility treatment if she wants that.

When I had cancer the most helpful thing was people just listening and asking how I was and letting me have whatever emotions I had. Nice days out say once a month can help get you through things - mine were seeing puffins but I was older. I hope treatment works well and she will get her life back and so sorry she's got this so young. I hope you have support for you as well, it is horrible watching your child suffer, hopefully treatment will start soon and kick the cancer out.

My DH had cancer at 31 he got a holiday from the Willow foundation and lots of support from Macmillian. It was invaluable to us as a family. It really helped us to have things to look forward to. The waiting for results is awful.

Best wishes to your DD.

My sister has just been diagnosed with breast cancer aged 35. Waiting for staging scans at the moment. It is horrendous and love to all going through this.

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter.
I can recommend the online community forums over on the MacMillan website Macmillan Online Community
They have a number of different forums, including one for parents of children (including adult children) diagnosed with cancer

Thank you all for sharing your own stories and your supportive comments.
DD and her partner came yesterday and we had a fun evening, she was really upbeat, but later wanted to talk about things. It's such a huge thing.
To have chondrosarcoma, at her age, is so vanishingly rare: one in 20 million, and when a younger person does get it it is far more aggressive.

Good to hear all your advice and situations. Love and best wishes to everyone affected by this monster of a disease.

@BeatrizViter the waiting is horrendous. DD is waiting to find out when her PET scans I'll be. No date but it'll be in the next couple of weeks. Then there'll be the wait for the results 😞
I hope your sister has some news soon

My dh (52) has just been diagnosed with bowel cancer. Surgery booked in for a month's time. It was a very unexpected shock.

So sorry about the others going through similar 😐 The sooner they can develop cures for these awful diseases, the better for everyone 🤞

Hi @Meredusoleil ! You were kind enough to post on my thread in chat a couple of days ago. I was thinking of you and your husband. Those agonising waits!

Do you mind my asking... do you have children? I've spent so much time worrying about the effect on my other 4, and comforting them that I think I need to worry about myself a bit now too.
It's so hard to know what to do.

Anyone else had to help children - of any age - through this?

Hi @SmockAndBeret I’m so sorry about your DD’s diagnosis. The Bone Cancer Research Trust (BCRT.org.uk) will have lots of information on their website, and a telephone support service. Wishing you well

Yes. We have 2 teenage girls. They are coping better than me tbh!

My friend's son was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in his spine Dec 24, aged 14. He had chemotherapy and radiotherapy but not surgery as it wasn't suitable. He's doing great now, some loss of mobility and still tires easily but back at school. He's having counselling as its been a lot to deal with.

@SmockAndBeret thank you and so glad to hear your daughter was able to have a lovely evening with you.

Something I read on a cancer forum about the 'scanxiety' and general constant fear really stuck with me- it said to (as much as possible) not let cancer suck away the joy from the days of life that you are so desperate to keep. With that in mind I went for a day out with my sister today and despite everything hanging over her, we had an awesome time 🙂.

Skull base chondrosarcoma here. That's a bit different as for some reason the skull base variant doesn't tend to metastasize as often, but it was my second cancer diagnosis in three years, so very unwelcome.

Please have a chat with the very lovely people at the Bone Cancer Research Trust. They're fantastic. And you must have a surgeon/team with a lot of experience in sarcomas. Be picky. Don't go with the first surgeon you meet, but do your research and don't do anything without a second opinion!

I’m sorry to read this. My mum had a very large sarcoma in her leg. They first wanted to amputate the whole leg but after much debate between a few consultants they removed part of it. They did a second operation to make sure the cancer was all gone. I wish your daughter all the best.

Hi - my husband was diagnosed with adrenal cancer ( also very rare 1 in a million and very aggressive) on Christmas Eve and it has metastasis to his lungs - found out on Thursday.
We are meeting the oncology team in two weeks time to start chemo. He is 58 and we have two children 21 and 16.
Telling them was the worse thing I have ever done.
I pray for all affected by this terrible disease.

Hi @Tamega
I'm so sorry to read about your husband. It's just pure horror, isn't it? I hope he responds well to his upcoming treatment.

@KentishMama and @problembottom thanks for your posts. There's more bone cancer around than I thought. I hope all goes well for you @KentishMama .

Ha, @BeatrizViter "scanxiety" is a good word for it!
It's been 9 days since DDs diagnosis, but still no date for PET scan! Supposed to be within two weeks. Time passing by and nothing happening 😞

Hit the phones and chase up the scan. I know people usually advise to just wait because the NHS is busy etc - but ignore that. Chase up every appointment every day until you've got it.

I am so sorry @SmockAndBeret I have a son same age - I think all you can do is be supportive, offer help if needed and also talk about other things too , my daughter in law had breast cancer quite young ( now in remission and ok for 2 years) but she did say keeping some normality helped

How worrying for you, my DN had similar at the same age and it wasn't fun but she made a full recovery and has even gone back to dance classes. Fingers crossed for the scans, the wait is awful xx