Mario Spencer chronicles life after cancer

Mario Spencer was a teenager balancing academics and athletics when what he thought was a torn muscle from playing football led to an osteosarcoma diagnosis. Although amputation was the medical recommendation, he opted for surgery, and its success gave him a new outlook on life.

He tells Lifestyle, “The questions I constantly asked myself years later are: What is my purpose here on Earth? Why did I survive cancer?”

Those answers, he revealed, are rooted in God’s grace and his mother’s unwavering faith: “I feel like it’s my duty to give God thanks and show my mother the appreciation she deserves for being so supportive and remaining hopeful throughout this trying journey.”

Osteosarcoma is a type of bone cancer that most often develops in the long bones of the arms or legs, frequently near the knee. It can also spread to other parts of the body, most commonly the lungs.

Spencer was about 15 or 16 years old and playing in a football match for his church, Harbour View Moravian, when he first felt the discomfort.

“It was a Sunday evening after church, just playing some football. I was running on the field, and I felt this pain,” he explained. Initially, Spencer thought he had torn a muscle, but the ache persisted for over a week.

He told his mother about the discomfort, and she took him to the hospital. A series of medical evaluations followed, yielding varying results.

“[At] the first hospital we went to, the doctor did an X-ray and said nothing was wrong. He prescribed an ointment to rub on the affected area and said it was for the pain,” Spencer revealed, adding, “But the rub did absolutely nothing.”

But something still was not adding up. Spencer and his mother then visited Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), where he received a different and more concerning assessment.

“We went to KPH with the same X-ray that we did with the first physician. This time around, the doctor noticed a dark spot. He told my mother that it could be cancer and he strongly recommended that we amputate the leg,” Spencer said.

It was news no child, or mother, would want to hear. Still, Spencer’s mother held on to hope. Following her instincts, she sought a third opinion, and it was during that consultation that surgery was presented as an option.

“Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Kenneth Vaughan agreed with the findings and recommended a biopsy and magnetic resonance imaging or MRI to confirm what kind of cancer it was,” Spencer shared.

He was referred to an oncologist and underwent chemotherapy, followed by a 12-hour knee replacement surgery. He then began physiotherapy.

CANCER FREE

After being declared cancer-free in 2011, Spencer decided to shed light on one of the darkest periods of his life in his book, A New Beginning: A Journey Through Cancer, Faith and Resilience.

“My mother was a writer, and she is always encouraging me to write. During the whole cancer ordeal, she was my tower of strength. She would constantly be by my side, praying for me, and she would encourage me by saying, ‘ When I get out of this, I should write a book’,” he said.

He began writing the book in 2014 but felt he had not yet gained enough life experience to complete it.

“By the time I started writing it, I had just started college. I didn’t think I had enough chapters in my life, much less to have a book. I just got through college and through the different stages of life. From love to overcoming the fear of wearing shorts in public. Living life again, entering the working world, getting married, starting to travel. Doing things I never thought I would have lived to experience,” he shared, noting that he was able to finish and publish the book this year on Amazon.

Spencer hopes the book will encourage anyone facing hardship: “I hope that people can draw strength from my story and that it gives them the courage to move forward and just keep fighting, no matter what the current situation might be. Just stick close to God and just keep praying.”

Spencer would also like to continue paying it forward by raising funds to help others with osteosarcoma.

“The fundraiser I did before never made a whole heap of money but, whatever I had earned, I donated to a young man who went through the same cancer and had his leg amputated. I’d love to continue in the quest to save lives as best as I can.”

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com