When TikToker Olivia Sandlin (@oneleggedliv) was five or six years old, her big toe would mysteriously swell up. Her mom would take her to the pediatrician, and eventually, the swelling would go away.
For years, she didn’t think anything of it, but when she was nine, her toe started to hurt badly. Doctors said that it was just growing pains or tendonitis because she was active in sports. By the time she received an actual diagnosis, she had already seen 12 different specialists.
“It got really, really bad, to the point that I would wake up some days for school or for sports, and I would just be in tears and could not walk,” said Olivia.
They tried different tendonitis remedies and special shoes, but nothing worked. Many people thought she was faking it. Toward the end of high school, she had to quit all the sports she was involved in.
Finally, at 17 years old, the podiatrist suggested that she get an MRI done. They found a tumor growing in the middle of her foot. It was not cancerous.
She went to a foot and ankle specialist, who told her that he wanted to explore other options before removing the tumor. There was a lot of nerve involvement with the tumor, so removing it would cause her to lose the function of her foot.
She then went to an interventional radiologist for a while and underwent several treatments, but didn’t see any results. The tumor was still big and was taking over her whole foot.
Since it wasn’t responding to any treatment, her doctor thought she had something called a FAVA (fibro-adipose vascular anomaly).
She was referred to the Boston Children’s Hospital, which helped her through her health journey. The doctors there performed multiple surgeries on her foot to relieve the pain.
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However, she had a lot of muscle contracture in her toes, so it hurt to walk. They cut the tendons in her remaining four toes to straighten them out.
She did two rounds of cryoablation, but the doctors said her foot had too much damage to do any more. She experienced pain relief for six months, but then had to have surgery again when it wore off.
The surgeon told her that she would probably have to have the surgery every six to 12 months for the rest of my life.
She was running out of options. Finally, the only thing left to do was amputation. She now has a prosthetic foot. In the comments section, many TikTok users shared similar stories.
“I was told I had growing pains my entire childhood until my early twenties. After the birth of my first child, at 25 years old, I was diagnosed with lupus. I had it my entire life,” commented one user.
“My family thought I was faking or exaggerating my cramps for 15 years. Then, one day, I had appendicitis, and during the ultrasound, they found a tumor on one of my ovaries. Kids should be believed, even if it seems they’re being dramatic. Glad you were finally able to get answers and on track to some normalcy,” wrote another.
“My daughter had the worst feet and joint pain starting at 10 or 11. Finally diagnosed with lupus at 15,” added a third.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
