Understanding Sarcoma Cancer
- Travis "T-Bone" Turner of the Outdoor Channel's hit show Michael Waddell's Bone Collector has shared the devastating news that he has cancer fibrosarcoma, a rare type of sarcoma cancer.
- He also shared that the tumors on his lower right leg are "so large and intertwined" with his leg muscle and bone that doctors are unable to remove his tumors; a leg amputation is his only option.
- The word sarcoma refers to a large array of bone and soft tissue cancers. Those are then further broken down into more specific forms of the disease; there are more than 50 types of soft tissue sarcomas.
But that is not all. Turner, who shared the news on Facebook and Instagram, said that the tumors on his lower right leg are "so large and intertwined" with his leg muscle and bone that doctors are unable to remove his tumors; a leg amputation is his only option.
Read MoreT-Bone Turner's Cancer Diagnosis
Last summer, T-Bone Turner went to the hospital seeking medical treatment for an infected tick bite. While he was there, he asked the doctor about what he called a "knot" on his right shin that had popped up a few weeks earlier; it was about the size of a grape.
The emergency room doctor told him it was "probably nothing," but advised Turner to keep an eye on it.
"The location of the knot is right beside a hematoma (bad bruise) I have had for 10 plus years from where I had fallen in the deep snow while hunting in northern Wisconsin," Turner wrote on Facebook, "so I kinda thought it might be something to do with that."
However, the knot continued to grow. When mid-August rolled around, the knot had grown to be bigger than a golf ball, according to Turner, so he sought further medical attention at his primary care doctor. Turner was referred to a general surgeon to figure out what the growing knot could be.
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"It's now the very end of August (2021) as I go to the first appointment with the General Surgeon and the Knot has grown even more along with 2 smaller knots showing up beside it," T-Bone Turner wrote.
An MRI of Turner's right leg was scheduled for mid-September after the surgeon examined him; it was at this point that all the knots and tumors were "really starting to grow and the MRI shows there is a lot to the tumors and a large mass around my shin that's not bulging yet."
A few more days passed and the largest tumor was the size of a tennis ball and was "busting through the skin and bleeding," T-Bone Turner wrote. "I went back to the General Surgeon to discuss the MRI and also let him look at the exposed busted tumor. We decide that with what the MRI shows us that we need to do a Biopsy of it in which we do."
"It takes 10 days for the Pathology report to come back and it's not good news," he wrote, adding that he was diagnosed with fibrosarcoma, which is a very rare cancerous soft-tissue tumor, or sarcoma. Adult fibrosarcoma usually affects fibrous tissue in the legs, arms or trunk, according to the American Cancer Society. It is most common in people between the ages of 20 and 60, but can occur in people of any age, even in infants.
But the bad news did not stop there. A full-body CT scan showed the T-Bone Turner also had a 9 millimeter nodule on his left lung, which may or may not be cancerous.
"It's time to start our plan of attack," he continued in his Facebook post. "By now there are 3 tumors the size of softballs on my shin outside the skin, plus smaller tumors around that. (Constant dressing changing and truly a mess to deal with daily)."
It was at this time that Turner started chemotherapy; he explained that he was started on two types of chemotherapy for five days straight, every three weeks. "Extremely aggressive," he added.
"As the Chemo treatments are winding down now and the CT scan shows no change in the size of the nodule on my lungs (which is a good sign)," he wrote, "it's time to remove the Sarcoma from my right lower leg. The CT scan shows that the mass and tumors are so large and intertwined in my leg muscles and bone that there is no way to effectively remove the tumor and all the Cancer So I have to have my leg amputated above the knee next week."
Understanding Sarcoma Cancer
Sarcomas are cancers that arise from the cells that hold the body together. They can occur in muscles, nerves, bones, fat, tendons, cartilage or other forms of connective tissues.
"There are hundreds of different kinds of sarcomas, which come from different kinds of cells," Dr. George Demetri, director of the Sarcoma and Bone Oncology Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, tells SurvivorNet.
The word sarcoma refers to a large array of bone and soft tissue cancers; those are then further broken down into more specific forms of the disease, however, we will not list them all as there are more than 50 types of soft tissue sarcomas. But it is important to know that T-Bone Turner is fighting a rare type of sarcoma cancer called fibrosarcoma.
"Unfortunately, most sarcomas don't cause many of the symptoms that may be associated with other cancers," Dr. Dale Shepard, director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute Phase I and Sarcoma Programs, tells SurvivorNet. Shepard also explains that this often leads to large tumors at the time of diagnosis.
"Soft tissue sarcomas are typically painless," he adds. "Bone sarcomas may be mistaken for orthopedic injuries. A mass the size of a golf ball or larger and growing should be evaluated as a potential sarcoma. It's important that patients who do have symptoms are not dismissive of them."
Contributing: SurvivorNet staff
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