Living with cancer as a TEEN

Mario Spencer

MARIO Spencer is battling bone cancer with the medical assistance of the University Hospital of the West Indies. Mario is now 17-years-old, attends St George’s College. He enjoys singing in church, and playing football and basketball with his friends.

But little over a year ago, he began showing symptoms that something wasn’t right in his left leg. “I was playin’ football and I jus’ felt the pain,” he said. His pain became so great that his parents rushed him to a doctor’s office. During this first visit he was prescribed medication which overtime, had no positive or negative effect on his ailment.

He then visited another doctor and was told to get X-Rays performed on his leg, which led up to him receiving an MRI giving more clarity. He was then diagnosed by Dr Vaughn, the head of the Orthopaedic Department at University Hospital of the West Indies, with a malignant tumour. A biopsy was performed and from February up to present, Mario has been on chemotherapy for his treatment.

Mario said that after his biopsy he experienced a lot of pain due to the tumour growing up to the stitches in his skin and that gave him a hard time sleeping. The medication that he has to take makes him occasionally nauseous and as expected with chemotherapy, he lost all of the hair on his body including his eyelashes.

He also stated that since he has been unwell he has lost some of his old friends and that it has made him get closer to God and become a stronger Christian.

Shockingly, his tumour fell off in May 2010. Mario believes that this is a miracle from God as he has had many people including those from various churches, his family and his friends, praying for his well-being since day one.

Mario ended his story with: “God has been very good to me.”

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