Samantha Shares Her and Her Husband’s Struggle and Their Survival.

In 2020, right after the covid pandemic creeped out into our world, our little family that summer found out that my husband had Conventional Chondrosarcoma Grade 2 in his pelvis. There were some signs of this prior to our E.R. visit including weight loss and a lump on his inner right leg. He also experienced severe pain in his lower back and hip. We went to see a local spine specialist and they thought it was a swollen groin or pinched nerve. In June, Bobby had been experiencing severe pain in his abdomen and could not urinate. My instinct was if you cannot go to the bathroom, you have a serious problem. They wanted to amputate his leg. Bobby and I were devastated. He got upset and said he wanted a second opinion. His surgeon and their team focused on saving his life and leg. We caught it just in time because the thing about Chrondrosarcoma is that they are slow growing and sneaky, these tumors like to hide in your body with very little symptoms. My advice is always see your PCP once a year and get blood work done.

We were already struggling before the pandemic hit so we had moved back in with my parents. Bobby has been out of work for almost 2 years. Before his diagnosis, Bobby had a free grant and scholarship to CDL school and had to turn it down. His surgery took place August, 2020 and lasted about 13 hours. He had the best possible outcome for his surgery. They cautioned us about where it was that he could potentially lose his bladder or rectum. Bobby’s tumor was roughly 10lbs, the size of a baby except this was no baby. Bobby was wheelchair bound for about 6 months. He had to learn how to walk again in physical therapy and had to use a walker for several months as well. Unfortunately, when they had to cut out the bone it made his right leg two inches shorter than his left so his surgeon had to prescribe him a shoe lift so he can be leveled out to walk as normally as he can.

As a family, we’ve been slowly picking back up the pieces of this huge life lemon and I encourage anyone experiencing the same to please ask for all kinds of help! As his wife, my mental health declined beginning November, 2020, at one point it was so bad I should have been put on medication or omitted for evaluation. Thankfully, with the help of family and friends I pulled myself out of the darkness. Bobby has had his up and downs of his new physical condition, when they removed the tumor from his pelvis, they had to remove half of his right pelvis and his right hip joint. Bobby is now 32 and walks with a strange limp with the help of his cane. He is unable to sit for long periods of time, and he is unable to walk long periods of time, and he has to constantly change positions to be comfortable. We’ve been in this roughly for a year and half, still cancer free but not in remission. We just recently found out through his urologist that one of his kidneys has died from the scar tissue of the surgery. It’s been a long road of recovery but Bobby is doing good otherwise and so am I. I have hope for our future. Our son Lucas is 5 and this has changed his life in so many ways that he does not even understand yet. We are still adapting and fighting and trying to remain positive! Yours truly, Samantha.

Pictured are Bobby, Samantha and their son Lucas Bond