Mother’s miracle surgery for cancer - body cut in half

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDSep 23 2010

Janis Ollson, 31 became the first patient to survive a rare bone cancer which required her body to be cut in half. When she was pregnant with her second child doctors assumed her intense back pain was just a typical symptom of pregnancy. But soon she was diagnosed with a bone cancer called sarcoma that was untreatable by chemotherapy or radiation.

Ms Ollson from Manitoba, Canada, was told by experts in Toronto they would have to cut her body in half by removing her leg, lower spine and half of her pelvis. This type of surgery had been performed only in cadavers they had warned her. They confirmed that the tumor was one of the largest that they had seen in a while. Ms Ollson said, “The plan was to remove the tumour, splitting my pelvis in half and removing the left half and left leg and lower spine.”

For the operation her family and friends raise $20,000 for her 52 day hospital stay and operation. Initial operation that removed the tumor was 20 hours long involving 12 specialists and Ollson had needed 20 units of blood. After a week’s rest she went through another operation that put her together again. This was eight hours long and involved 240 staples.

Once the operation was through Ms Ollson became the first person to ever receive a “pogo stick” rebuild. She has one leg fused to her body and one prosthetic leg, along with a prosthetic pelvis. This was with the help of Mayo Clinic in the U.S.

After three years of intensive rehabilitation the ever optimistic Ms Ollson said, “I have no problem getting around. If I need to, I'll crawl (up stairs) or scooch like a kid…I don't want people to think 'we can't invite the Ollsons because they can't get in here with a wheelchair.' I want to live life to its fullest.”