Boy’s heartbreaking message after losing leg to incurable cancer: ‘I’ll miss you so much’

news.com.au

13 Nov, 2022 07:22 PM2 mins to read

Chandler Tran, 8, has lost his leg to osteosarcoma. Photo / Supplied

A young boy has left a heartbreaking message on his leg after learning that it had to be amputated due to a rare cancer.

Chandler Tran, 8, from Australia, and his family first discovered he was unwell when they discovered a “pea-sized” bump on his leg and noticed he was walking with a limp when he returned from holiday care at Easter.

After an X-ray at the local hospital the next day he was taken to a children’s hospital in Sydney, and a week later, he was given the devastating diagnosis of osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer.

He also had multiple tumours in his lungs.

Next came months in hospital, with chemotherapy. Doctors then wanted to amputate his leg to take away his pain, but it couldn’t cure him.

Chandler’s dad Cong Tran, 42, recalled, “He said: ‘Can you take a photo of my leg on my tablet?’”

“He drew a little love heart over his leg and wrote a little message.

“He wrote: ‘Dear leg, I’ll miss you so much when you’re gone, love Chandler.’

Chandler wrote a goodbye message to his leg. Photo / Supplied

“He was sad about the prospect of losing his leg, but he was like, ‘If that’s what I need to do to not have pain, then that’s okay.’

“For us seeing him coping so well, that really helped us.”

Days after recovering from that operation, more bad news followed – the tumours in Chandler’s lungs had grown and the doctors couldn’t do anything more to save his life. They didn’t know how long he had left.

“They said any treatment would just be palliative, to try and slow the cancer down,” his mother Trang said.

“We won’t be able to save him.”