Teen cancer survivor dances en pointe with custom prosthetic foot
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(Photo courtesy Fox LA)
A Missouri teen can finally indulge in one of her greatest passions— dancing en pointe— after receiving a custom prosthetic foot following surgery for osteocarcoma.
Gabi Shull, of Warrensburg, was diagnosed with the bone and tissue cancer, which is rare in children, at age 9 in 2011. Following her diagnosis, she had part of her leg amputated then underwent a rotationplasty operation, whereby doctors turned her foot around and placed her heel under her new knee. The rest of her leg is a prosthetic, 41-KSHB reported.
While the new leg and operation enabled Shull to walk, she wasn’t able to practice ballet as she wanted, Fox LA reported. But now, thanks to a custom prosthetic foot that lets her stand on her tiptoes, Shull can dance en pointe once again.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Dancing means a lot to me,” Shull told FoxLA.com. “I think it’s the main thing that motivated me to keep going and to learn to walk again because I just really wanted to get back on the stage.”