Promising basketballer dealing with bone cancer, surgery and hair loss with a smile on her face

It’s a type of cancer commonly misdiagnosed as a sports injury, but for this up-and-coming basketballer luckily it was detected in time.

CAIRNS schoolgirl Charlotte Phillips is dealing with a bone cancer diagnosis, the loss of her hair due to ongoing chemotherapy and the aftermath of major surgery to remove an aggressive tumour — all with a smile.

Amid the treatment the 13-year-old has had to endure at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, 1300km away from close family and friends, she often tells her mother Kushla: “There’s so many people worse off than me.”

Charlotte is acutely aware other children with the same cancer, osteosarcoma, lose limbs.

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Cairns schoolgirl Charlotte Phillips, 13, is battling bone cancer. Picture: Steve Pohlner/AAP.

The talented basketball player, a member of the Cairns Dolphins under-14 team, was diagnosed with cancer after she had to sit out most of the Queensland championships in July.

She’d been experiencing left shoulder pain in the leadup to the Mackay tournament, which was thought to be due to her heavy training schedule.

But when the pain continued to the point she was unable to play, her mum took her for a scan, referred by Charlotte’s physiotherapist.

“We were lucky that we got onto it so quickly,” Mrs Phillips said.

“We were able to catch it before it had really started moving.

“This type of cancer can be misdiagnosed as a sports injury, quite commonly. It’s just lucky that the physio was on to it.”

Charlotte is one of the first patients to receive the benefit of new three-dimensional surgical navigation equipment at the Queensland Children’s Hospital, which drastically cuts surgery time, reduces blood loss and allows surgeons to preserve more bone and tissue.

The QCH is the first Australian hospital to use the $1.7 million equipment, described by orthopaedic surgeon Peter Steadman as the “Navman of surgery”, in a paediatric cancer setting.

He operated on Charlotte last week, removing 10cm of her left humerus, the upper arm bone, and about half of her rotator cuff muscle. Her shoulder was replaced with a titanium implant.

An X-ray of Charlotte Phillips’ shoulder after surgery to remove 10cm of her humerus and insert a titanium shoulder implant

Dr Steadman said having the new equipment meant the Year 8 student’s operation lasted 2.5 hours, instead of about four, and he was able to preserve more tissue than usual, making it more likely she would be able to return to the basketball court.

“There’s every chance she’ll be able to get her arm back up over her shoulder so she can go back and play basketball,” he said. “But it would be a big call to say that she’ll be able to go back and play to the same competitive level.”

Dr Steadman said the hospital’s new equipment merged images from three types of scans to provide a 3D image of a tumour, allowing surgeons to better plan an operation beforehand and to remove cancer with a greater degree of accuracy.

In some cases, it’s meant a child’s joint has been able to be saved.

“It’s huge,” Dr Steadman said. “By preserving a joint, you’re preserving function.”

Charlotte’s cancer specialist Rick Walker said about 20 Queensland children a year were diagnosed with sarcoma, a type of tumour arising from the bone and connective tissue.

“(Her tumour) was detected as early as it could have been,” Dr Walker said, adding there was no evidence of it spreading beyond the Redlynch State College student’s arm.

“With the combination of chemotherapy and surgery she has a very good chance of cure.”

Dr Steadman said survival for Charlotte’s type of cancer was about 75 per cent at five years, but new therapies on the horizon were expected to improve on this.

Orthopaedic surgeon Peter Steadman at the Queensland Children’s Hospital Picture: Supplied

In the midst of a tough year, Mrs Phillips said Charlotte’s cancer had brought mother and daughter closer together, with husband Greg and eight-year-old son Lachlan remaining in Cairns, flying down for occasional visits.

“It’s time Charlotte and I can build on our relationship that we probably wouldn’t have had,” Mrs Phillips said. “And the amazing hospital staff and support from the community, family and friends has been overwhelming. We couldn’t have done it without that.”

The new equipment used in Charlotte’s surgery was paid for by the Children’s Hospital Foundation. To donate to the foundation: childrens.org.au