In 2011, when Gabi Shull was just nine years old, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer. She had taken a fall when she was ice skating, but when the sizable bruise on her knee showed no signs of improvement after two weeks, her parents took her to the doctor where an MRI scan revealed a large tumor.
There were a number of ways Gabi could choose to treat the cancer, but all of the options called for amputation. And for the young, aspiring ballerina who had been dancing since she was three, the choice wasn’t easy.
After much debate, Gabi and her parents decided to have Gabi undergo rotationplasty surgery. The procedure still required Gabi to amputate her leg from above her diseased knee, but her foot would be reattached, backwards, to her thigh. Her ankle would then come to serve as her “new” knee.
The surgery was successful, but Gabi’s journey didn’t end there.
“After I had my leg amputated the first call was to just get me walking again and get me out of the hospital bed,” Gabi recalled. “But what motivated me to walk was the thought of dancing again.”
It was a long, painful process. Gabi was scared of putting weight onto her new leg and had to remobilize her ankle-turned-knee after the procedure. After almost a year of recovery and personal trainer sessions, Gabi was finally able to walk independently.
And just a year after that, she returned to the stage as a dancer.
Gabi is thrilled to resume her life, just as it was, before her surgery. She continues to dance competitively, and now even has the opportunity to inspire others with her story through the social media campaign, The Truth 365.
Her dreams don’t end here. “When I am older,” Gabi said, “I would like to specialize in pediatrics at college or work as a nurse or scientist looking to help find a cure for cancer."
