WHEN Lucy Worthington’s knee began to ache, she assumed it was just a drunken injury.
But after physio failed to sort it out, she realised it was a killer condition hiding in plain sight – one which would see the 27-year-old snap her leg in half while she was sitting on the sofa.
When Lucy Worthington got knee pain she blamed it on a drunken injury[/caption]
The 27-year-old from Bristol was left fighting for her life – begging doctors to save her[/caption]
Lucy, from Bristol, UK, tells Sun Health: “I started getting pain in my right leg around my knee.
“So I went to my GP who referred me for an X-ray in February, and they told me the X-ray was clear and there was nothing to report.
“I thought I had just gotten drunk and hurt myself falling over.
“As time went on and the pain wasn’t going away, I thought what I was told – that it was a physio issue and that I would do the exercises and it would go away.
“I do a lot of walking and they thought it was a pulled muscle or a trapped nerve.”
When the ‘intense’ pain did not get better after three physio sessions, the the talent acquisition recruiter went back to the GP who reportedly referred her for an MRI scan at Bristol Royal Infirmary in August 2024.
“The pain started getting worse and I got a lump,” Lucy said.
“It was a big lump that was growing just above my knee, so I went back to my doctor.
“It felt like someone was crushing my knee, or grabbing it and twisting it, it was a very intense horrible pain that no painkillers would help. I was prescribed codeine and morphine and none of it would work.
“I saw the physio three times, the pain wasn’t getting any better and the lump kept growing.
“On the third time I saw her, she said ‘I’m not happy doing anything else with you until you’ve had some more imaging’, so she urged me to go back to my GP.
“As soon as my GP felt the lump, her face dropped. She realised something was seriously wrong and referred me for an MRI scan.
“I was diagnosed with sarcoma and I was told it’s rare and aggressive. Now I know that it [the lump] was my tumour that had started to grow out of my bone.”
There are more than 100 subtypes of sarcoma, the two main ones being soft tissue and bone.
Soft tissue sarcoma is a rare cancer that can start almost anywhere inside the soft tissue of the body, which include muscles, fat, blood vessels, ligaments and tendons.
My mum heard the earth-shattering scream and ran in… At first i thought i just dislocated my knee but i couldn’t lift my leg up, it wasn’t hanging on to anything.
Lucy Worthington
Bone sarcoma, which is much rarer, starts in the bone, most commonly affecting the legs.
Sarcoma UK say more than 5,100 people are diagnosed with the disease each year.
“The tumour was 14cm, around the size of a grapefruit,” Lucy says.
“It was so scary to be told this all. It sounds silly because you always attribute this to older people, in your 20s it’s not something you think about.
“I was Googling my symptoms but I never actually thought it would be cancer.
“I had a gut feeling it might be something serious but I was in shock, it didn’t really set in.
“I was told it’s likely curable depending on how my body reacts to the chemo.”
“I thought I had just gotten drunk and hurt myself falling over,” says Lucy[/caption]
Lucy started to develop a lump above her knee so she went back to the doctor for answers[/caption]
It turned out the pain in her knee was caused by a tumour which was now breaking out the bone. “The tumour was 14cm, around the size of a grapefruit,” says Lucy[/caption]
The symptoms of sarcoma cancer
The most common symptom of soft tissue sarcoma is a lump somewhere on the body.
But this doesn’t necessarily mean cancer – there are all sorts of reasons for lumps and swellings, but it must always be checked by a GP.
The lump is usually found deep under the skin and might be felt before it can be seen.
The lump is usually solid to the touch, painless and hard to move around under the skin.
It will continue to grow and as it does, it can become painful.
Other symptoms depend on where in the body the lump is.
These can include:
- Tummy pain and constipation if there is a sarcoma near the tummy
- A cough that does not go away if there is a sarcoma near the lungs
Source: NHS
But before her treatment could start, in September 2024, things would come to a head when Lucy would snap her leg due to weakening bone density.
She says: “Because of the type of cancer, I had no bone density in my femur so I just sat on the sofa and broke my leg.
“I had been to the bathroom and I walked back to the sofa on a walking stick because they told me not to put all my weight on one leg.
“My femur just shattered and it split my tumour in half. The pain was horrific, I broke the strongest bone in the human body.
“My mum heard the earth-shattering scream and ran in, called 999 and the longer the ambulance was taking, the more pain I was in. She called them back and told them I have bone cancer.
“At first i thought i just dislocated my knee but i couldn’t lift my leg up, it wasn’t hanging on to anything.
At hospital, Lucy feared that she would die ‘any minute’.
“I definitely thought I could die – when I broke my leg and was admitted to hospital, me and my family thought I could die any minute, I was really not well.
“They thought they were going to have to amputate my leg. I was so scared because he didn’t know if he would be able to save my leg going into surgery.
“I had to sign an on-table decision that if he thought it was necessary, he could amputate.
“I went into this surgery not knowing if I would wake up with a leg or not. It was like a scene from Grey’s Anatomy. I was crying and telling him he saved my leg.”
Lucy finished her chemotherapy in June and is looking forward to getting her life back on track[/caption]
Thankfully, the surgeon was able to save her leg, but it wasn’t plain sailing for Lucy afterwards.
She said: “I kept getting sepsis and wasn’t responding to chemo very well so in the beginning it was very worrying.”
But she finished her chemo in June and is “excited to get her life back on track”.
“I’m feeling amazing, so happy,” she says. “I’m a bit scared of the scans to come in case it comes back or has gone anywhere else, but now I’m excited to get my life back on track.”
She wants to warn others to take symptoms seriously. Her pain and lump were the only signs, other than night sweats.
“If the tumour hadn’t grown out of the bone it could have been too late,” she says. “So any aches or pains please get them checked because you never know.”
What are the causes of knee pain and when is it serious?
Knee pain can arise from various sources, including injuries, medical conditions, and mechanical issues.
It can usually be treated at home, but you should get help if it’s not getting better within a few weeks.
Causes can include:
Sprains and strains
These include ligament tears (e.g., ACL injuries), cartilage tears, fractures, dislocations, and sprains.
You might have pain after overstretching, overusing or twisting, often during exercise. Or, your knee is unstable or gives way when you try to stand, you are unable to straighten or heard a ‘pop’ during injury.
Tendonitis
Tendonitis is when a tendon in the knee becomes inflamed, causing pain usually between your kneecap and shin. It is often caused by repetitive running or jumping.
Arthritis
Some medical conditions can cause pain without obvious injury. Arthritis (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis) causes pain and stiffness in the knees that can make it difficult to move or walk.
There may also be swelling.
Gout
Gout causes pain and skin that is hot and red. The attacks are sudden and cause very bad pain.
When to Worry:
You should consult a healthcare professional if you experience:
- Anything urgent: Severe pain, inability to bear weight, joint deformity, a sudden “popping” sound, sudden swelling, or signs of infection (e.g., redness, warmth, fever).
- Persistent issues: Pain that disrupts daily life or sleep, reduced range of motion, knee instability, locking sensations, or persistent swelling, numbness, or worsening symptoms over time.
Source: NHS
