This 12-year-old girl fought cancer and a backward knee to become a dancer

This 12-year-old girl fought cancer and a backward knee to become a dancer

An undying passion and belief are two emotions that can help a person overcome any hurdle in life.

And this story of a 12-year-old girl, Delaney Unger, is a testament to that fact.
According to CNN, Delaney was detected with an aggressive bone cancer called osteosarcoma at the age of three, but the little girl's spirit helped her overcome one of the worst battles of her life.

The cancer had spread to her knee when the doctor's diagnosed it and to save the girl's life, chemotherapy and amputation of her left knee were the only option.


For Delaney, a passionate dancer since the age of three, her dreams were shattered within an instant at a very early stage.

Generally in cases of osteoarthritis, almost 90 per cent of patients have to undergo an artificial knee transplant, which leads to a stunted growth in children and since Delaney was just three her growth could have been seriously affected because of that.

But fate turned in favour of Delaney and how!

Because of cancer's peculiar location (it only affected her knee, so the bottom part of her calf, her ankle and the foot were unaffected) in Delaney's leg, she had an option to take a rare surgery called rotationplasty.

In the surgery, instead of conducting an above-the-knee amputation, doctors operated only on the knee and turned her ankle into a new replacement knee.

To simplify, the doctors turned Delaney's knee 180 degrees, therefore it was placed in a way that it acted as her knee.

But considering the surgery was so life altering, as she was a young kid and other kids may bully her, Delaney's parents were not sure.

But the little girl showed strength and said, "I would rather have a chance to try and fail then not have a chance at all."


So, the surgery was conducted and a natural joint instead of a prosthetic one helped Delaney to do functions that wouldn't have been possible had she had gone the other way.
And today, the 12-year-old is fulfilling her dreams of dancing.

The doctor who operated on Delaney, Fazel Khan, an orthopedic surgeon told CNN, "She is blowing us all away with how fast she is progressing with dance and walking. We have videos of her walking, and when she has pants on, it's almost impossible to tell that she had any surgery to begin with."

Delaney's journey may be tough, but her strength helped her survive everything. And today she wants to be an inspiration for those fighting a similar battle.

"Don't say 'I can't.' Just try it, and if you can't do it then, that's fine, but if you never actually tried it, you should. It's like just a little stop in the road, but then you got to just keep going," Delaney told CNN.