Xander Bickers, 14, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer that is often dismissed as a sports injury
NEED TO KNOW
- Xander Bickers, 14, initially thought his leg pain was from a basketball injury, but he was later diagnosed with osteosarcoma
- Osteosarcoma is a rare bone cancer often mistaken for sports injuries or growing pains in teens and young adults
- Xander had surgery to remove the tumor and is now undergoing chemotherapy while starting high school
An athletic teen chalked up his ongoing leg pain to a routine basketball injury — a common mistake, his doctors say, that causes most young people to miss the fact that they’ve developed bone cancer.
“I had a sports injury from a basketball game, and it just didn’t heal,” Xander Bickers, 14, told WSB-TV. The Atlanta-area teen was an avid athlete, playing three sports, with no other symptoms. Finally, his family took him to the doctor to have his leg checked out.
That’s when the family was given the devastating diagnosis: Xander had osteosarcoma. It’s a type of bone cancer that generally begins in the legs or arms, per the Mayo Clinic, and most often impacts teens and young adults. Early bone or joint pain is a symptom, and it’s often “mistaken for growing pains” as the pain is intermittent, not chronic.
Dr. Katie Sutton, one of Xander’s doctors, told the outlet that “it often gets misdiagnosed initially as a sports injury.”
“You’ll present with pain, you’ll go to the doctor, they’ll have you do physical therapy and other things, and when it doesn’t get better over time, folks realize there’s more going on,” she said. “Then you’ll get imaging, and you’ll figure it out.”
It’s a rare cancer, with the American Cancer Society saying that there are an estimated 1,000 new cases of osteosarcoma diagnosed annually, with half of those cases being children and teens.
“We were lucky that we that we it was found as quick as it was,” his father, Danny Bickers, told the outlet. Xander underwent surgery, where doctors removed his tumor, and replaced his knee and about 8 inches of bone. He’s now undergoing chemotherapy as he begins his freshman year of high school.
“Being able to get it out does help a lot. I really want to get back to my sports because that’s one of my favorite things to do,” Xander said.
“Just keep your faith,” his father told the outlet. “It’s tough.”
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