His mum got him along to see his GP, who immediately referred
him to get an X-ray done of his leg. A week later he went into
hospital and had an MRI, CT scan and also a bone scan. He was soon
back home, and then needed to go back into hospital to have a bone
marrow biopsy done - a painful experience. By the Monday following,
he was diagnosed with an osteosarcoma of his right tibia (lower
leg).
His treatment regime was very tough, and so started his journey
dealing with cancer and the treatment of it. Before he began his
six cycles of chemotherapy (consisting of methotraxate, cisplatin
and doxyrubin), Daniel needed to have a Hickman line inserted. This
is an intravenous catheter that is inserted just under the
collarbone and into the main vein going into the heart, with two
'lines' that hang on the outside of the body, around 20cm long.
This line was inserted so that bloods can be drawn on and
chemotherapy and other drugs administered into, without having to
find a vein every time… and believe him, the line had uses hundreds
of times!
After being in and out of Christchurch hospital for about two
months, he had major surgery to remove the tumour. When they were
in theatre, the surgeon noted that the extent of the tumour was
much more than he had predicted, and so had to extend the surgery
and required the removal of his knee bone. This was replaced by a
titanium knee joint and rods in his femur and tibia. The pictures
from the CT scan afterwards look awesome!
Two weeks later, Daniel started the next course of chemotherapy
- another 6 rounds of the drugs mentioned above. He was in and out
of hospital again for a number of months, this time getting the
side effects of the chemotherapy even stronger: ulcers in the
mouth, nausea, vomiting and hair loss. The vomiting was
particularly bad and Daniel lost almost 40kgs over the period of
the chemotherapy.
Daniel joined CanTeen soon after he was first admitted into
hospital at the beginning of this journey. Daniel and his mum were
met by Koral late 2005 and she remembers the first meeting very
vividly.
"Daniel was as quiet as a mouse, obviously anxious
about what was going on around him in this strange new environment
and unsure of his path ahead. I recall him lying on his side
looking at me when I was chatting to him and his mum, his eyes
poking above the sheet that was up around his nose. This was the
first of many visits and over time, Daniel transitioned to this new
environment and was soon getting up to mischief trying to soak the
nurses with water guns when they came into his room!"
Daniel's mum, Ann, stayed with Daniel in hospital for the first
couple of weeks. Daniel recalls that during this process, his
family and friends become a lot closer. Daniel's younger brother,
Matthew, also joined CanTeen and has been an active member since.
This doesn't mean it was easy for his nearest and dearest during
this time. Some friends were unsure about how to react to his news.
For a while his friends backed off, unsure of how to approach him.
Daniel was very thankful of a teacher from his school who arranged
a home visit along with three school mates to catch up with
him.
School-wise, Daniel was enrolled in Health School for about two
months following being in hospital and then they helped him get
into the NZ Career College where he completed a panel beating
course with great results.
When things were looking on the up, Daniel got a job at a tyre
business and on his first day, unfortunately twisted his foot on
the stairs and injured himself. That night, there was a General
Meeting at CanTeen for the membership and the staff and volunteers
recalled how pained he looked. One of the medical volunteers took
him to emergency to get checked out, to find that the incident had
badly damaged the titanium supports, to the point where the rod had
moved in his femur and screws loosened.
Daniel was then to go through another surgery to replace the
titanium rods and knee joint, this time extending the rods from
mid-upper femur all the way down to his ankle joint (see images
attached).
Daniel has been an active member of CanTeen since after his
treatment, first of all as a general member for 9 months, then
joining the local Canterbury / West Coast Committee. His
progression has moved up significantly recently on two levels -
firstly he was voted in as Vice President of the Branch and
secondly, Daniel has been the primary member supporting the staff
for our National Bandanna challenge for 2009. It is estimated he
has spent around 50 hours pre-campaign helping with bandanna
orders, making up point of sale boxes and attending speaking
arrangements. Even in this short time the staff have noticed
Daniel's growth in confidence as he tackles more challenges. Since
the kick off of the campaign, Daniel has been in most day and is
still helping staff do pick-ups after the campaign and helping
count stock and money. Overall, he'll be sitting on about 80 hours
of dedication for this campaign - WELL DONE!
Daniels future plans revolve around wanting to get into a career
working with cars, hopefully as a mechanic. He continues to attend
all local and national programs, including regional camps (three
per year), monthly general meetings and committee meetings, as well
as the various National programs that exists, helping him to
develop his skills as a leader and assisting his own personal
discovery and growth. Daniel is at a point in his life where
becoming a Teen Linker would be next on his list of hopes.
At CanTeen, Daniel has made numerous friends with young people
who know what its like to deal with cancer in their family. He
especially enjoys meeting people, going to camps and travelling
with CanTeen to other events throughout NZ.