Aussie boy with rare cancer has operation to turn his foot upside down
A 10-year-old boy who had an operation to have his foot turned backward has shown no signs of his rare cancer returning after five years.
Jonty Oddy, from Brisbane in Queensland, had a rotationplasty in 2011 when he was just four years old to avoid having a full amputation after doctors discovered a massive tumour in his leg.
Chemotherapy managed to shrink the bone cancer by 92 per cent, but to stop it returning surgeons cut of a portion of the little boy's limb, rotated his foot and reattached it at his knee joint.
"Of course, we'd rather he didn't have to have anything, but the most important thing was saving his life," his father, Wayne Oddy, told The Mirror.
Jonty's foot acts as a knee joint, leaving him with much more mobility than if he had a full amputation.
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"He still has his full length of arteries and veins, but they are rolled up behind his ankle. It's amazing," Mr Oddy said.
The 10-year-old's foot also acts as a knee in his prosthetic leg.
The operation was done at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane in November 2011 and Jonty pulled himself around on his arms for a few weeks during recovery.
After five years, Jonty's rare form of cancer has not returned.
The little boy's classmates are all used to his prosthetic leg, which he wears each day until he gets home and "lets his foot be free."
