He saved her life twice.
The first time, Dr. Ken Brown cut off the top of her right leg and reattached the lower part backward.
The second time he rescued Analyn Purcell was a year later.
In early 1998, at the age of 14, the Coquitlam student had been admitted to BC Children’s Hospital with three other teens stricken with cancer; by late 1999, they were dead and Dr. Brown didn’t want to take any chances with Purcell’s young life.
He had seen a spot on her lungs and pleaded with her to undergo surgery — yet again — to take it out. A bone shard from her amputation had travelled up and, luckily, proved to be benign. But it was during a routine rub of her lungs in surgery that Dr. Brown found two tiny malignant nodules.
They were removed and, on Nov. 4, 1999, she was officially cleared of cancer.
•••••
THE DIAGNOSIS
Purcell's cancer battle started much like Terry Fox’s.
Analyn Brook, as she was known then, was 13 in 1997, a student at Moody middle school in Port Moody.
Like the Port Coquitlam hero, her right knee began to throb with pain for no apparent reason.
Her mom took her to Eagle Ridge Hospital for X-rays but the emergency room doctor refused and told her to get new shoes instead.
Purcell’s knee continued to hurt.
One day, while playing a friendly game of basketball at school, Purcell fell on the gym floor. That night, her knee had swollen so much she couldn’t get her jeans on.
She laughed it off with friends.
Her GP diagnosed it as a sports injury and prescribed six months of physiotherapy but there was no relief.
“I still knew something was going on but who listens to teenagers?” Purcell said.
During a Christmas trip to visit relatives in Texas, the pain was so severe, she begged her mother to cut off her leg.
With her three-year-old brother and three-month-old sister in tow, the family quickly returned to Canada, where a doctor ordered an X-ray and an ultrasound.
Like most cancer survivors, Purcell has the pivotal dates and details clear in her mind: Wednesday, Jan. 21, 1998, Brooke Radiology in Burnaby.
“I was excited that it was being done,” Purcell said of the tests. “I told everyone at school, even my teachers.”
The next day was nice and the sky was blue, she remembers. Purcell was pumped about the upcoming weekend dance. She took the bus from Moody middle to her Westwood Plateau home. Normally, she would have pressed the code to enter through the garage but, on this sunny Thursday, her mom was waiting at the door with the baby on her hip.
Her mom broke the news: Cancer.
Her mom cried. Purcell cried for her.
The news hit her in unexpected ways.
Relief, that the pain had finally had a name and she could begin fighting it.
Sadness, when she broke down on the phone while telling her friends that night.
Fear, about what chemotherapy was going to do to her body.
But, also, positivity. “I didn’t think I was going to die.”
Purcell went to school the next day to explain to her classmates what was happening and to say goodbye. She would be returning to her studies soon enough, she promised.
The doctors told her she had the same cancer that took Terry Fox's leg: osteosarcoma, a malignant tumour in the bone that often starts near the knee and generally strikes young and tall men, for unknown reasons.
Her mom sought more answers from her siblings in Texas, both nurses. The worldwide web wasn’t easily accessible so they faxed her reams of paperwork about the disease.
Purcell was admitted to BC Children’s Hospital but she didn’t follow the usual chemo schedule of having a three-week break in between rounds. Because she was susceptible to infection, she was never home for more than 10 days at a time for most of that year.
Soon, the slim, 5’6” girl had lost her hair and 20 lb. “I was about 100 lb. soaking wet, basically skin and bones.”
Her friends, teachers and family tried to keep her spirits up by visiting while she underwent six rounds of chemo that winter and spring.
By April, Dr. Brown gave her three options to surgically repair her leg. One involved using bone harvested from a cadaver. The second was to install an artificial knee, although that required plenty of support muscle, which Purcell didn’t have.
Instead, she chose rotationplasty — that is, an alternate surgery that involves removing the knee and thigh and replacing them with the calf and foot, backward, so the heel can act as the knee.
At that time, Dr. Brown was one of just a handful of surgeons anywhere who could perform it; today, it’s not as uncommon.
Purcell was sure she had made the right choice and was calm going in for the operation.
“I was excited to have surgery because it meant no more cancer," she said.
But the 10-hour operation — April 28, 1998 — didn’t go so well. She suffered two blood clots, the second of which forced her into surgery for another five hours.
By November of ’98 — and after a dozen more rounds of chemo — Purcell could finally go home for good.
But during a check six weeks later, a spot appeared in her lung. Dr. Brown decided to monitor it.
In October 1999, he told her he couldn’t bear to see another young person die on his watch. He wanted to go in and take it out.
During the surgery — Nov. 4, 1999 — when Dr. Brown discovered the spot on her lung was the bone chip, he also fond two small nodules not visible to the X-ray.
They were removed, the last bits of cancer excised from her young body.
•••
HAPPY ANNIVERSARIES
Nov. 4, 1999 is the day Purcell gives thanks for her life.
On the 10th anniversary of her surgery, her friends and family gathered at a pub to fundraise for the oncology department at BC Children’s Hospital.
“Now, it’s more quiet," she said of that anniversary. "My husband brings me flowers."
For the 20th year, Purcell wants to do another bash because so much has happened since then.
The Pinetree secondary graduate has become a regular Terry’s Team member, proudly wearing her red T-shirt with other cancer survivors at the start line for the annual Hometown Run in Port Coquitlam, where she lived until recently.
On Sept. 20, she will be at the front again for the 35th anniversary run in PoCo.
Purcell has also been a proud champion for the Terry Fox Foundation, raising awareness about the need for more cancer research. As well, she has spoken at BC Children’s in support of rotationplasty, helping parents and cancer patients with their decisions.
And Purcell has also become the proud mom of Liam, who's five years of age, and Elizabeth, two. A third child is on the way, due on New Year’s Eve.
It’s a lot for her body, she admits, but this pregnancy has gone well compared with her first, when she was on crutches in her eighth month after her leg swelled up so much that her prothesis wouldn’t fit.
In the back of her mind, the 31-year-old woman worries about the long-term side effects of having childhood cancer. During the treatments, she lost some hearing. There are also challenges with her heart, which she must monitor regularly while expecting.
But Liam comforts and protects her. When his friends ask about his mom, he tells them she has a "robot leg." He started kindergarten this month in Coquitlam.
“I have a lot to be grateful for,” Purcell said, looking at her kids. “They keep me busy and happy.”
[email protected]
@jwarrenTC
•••••••
FOX RUN DETAILS
The Tri-Cities hosts four Terry Fox runs on Sept. 20 — including in the hero’s hometown of Port Coquitlam:
• Port Coquitlam: Hyde Creek recreation centre, 10 a.m. start;
• Port Moody: Rocky Point Park, 10 a.m. start;
• Coquitlam: Blue Mountain Park, 10 a.m. start;
• Anmore: Spirit Park, 11 a.m. start.
