Tragedy of small bump on mum’s hand

An Aussie mum has recounted her shock after a tiny lump on her hand turned out to be a terrifying illness requiring amputation.

A Gold Coast mum has spoken out after a tiny lump on her hand turned out to be a terrifying illness requiring amputation.

Rosie-May Fisher, 32, first noticed the “soft and painless” lump on the centre of her left palm in 2010 while she was at work.

After first dismissing it as an “odd thing that appeared on my body”, she asked a GP about it during an unrelated appointment about two years later.

Ms Fisher was sent for an MRI, which deemed the lump non-suspicious and determined it was probably a harmless sebaceous cyst.

After Ms Fisher gave birth to her son, Bobby, in May 2020, things took a turn. Ms Fisher said the lump “started to get bigger and a little bit painful”.

Gold Coast mum Rosie-May Fisher, 32, with her three-year-old son Bobby.

“It was really sore and it was getting in the way of my work and day-to-day things,” she told 7 News.

“So I went back to the GP and said, ‘Can we just get rid of it, because it’s annoying and painful?’.”

Ms Fisher waited a year to undergo what was deemed a non-urgent surgery. The lump was removed in October last year, but what surgeons found in Ms Fisher’s hand was heart-wrenching.

Ms Fisher said her surgeon “came in with a really serious look on her face”.

“She told me they did a biopsy on the lump after they removed it and the results came back saying it was a rare type of cancer,” Ms Fisher said.

“I was in disbelief. I wasn’t sure if I was in the right room.”

The lump was identified as epithelioid sarcoma, a rare cancer that develops in soft tissues such as fat, muscle, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, nerves, tendons and cartilage. Ms Fisher’s treatment plan would be drastic.

Ms Fisher first noticed the lump in 2010.

Further scans revealed the rest of the mum’s body was mercifully cancer-free, but the condition had taken over parts of Ms Fisher’s left hand.

Chemotherapy and radiation would be ineffective at treating the type of tumour, which could spread if Ms Fisher waited. The safest way forward, she was told, was amputation.

In December — 12 years after she first spotted the lump — Ms Fisher underwent a surgical amputation of her middle and ring fingers, freeing her body from cancer.

After the surgery, Ms Fisher said she was “still just trying to find my feet again”.

“It’s changed my life, physically, mentally and emotionally,” she said.

“I don’t have my career. I don’t have anywhere near as much strength as I do in my other hand.

“And I hate the way it looks.”

The young mum underwent amputation of her middle and ring fingers in December.

She said she was “just trying to find my feet again”.

The young mum has had to give up her career in hairdressing, which she said was “all I’ve ever really worked and dreamt for”.

She also struggles with basic tasks caring for her son Bobby, now 3.

“Being his age, dressing him is difficult — even with two hands,” she said.

“Driving to and from kindy, I’m not confident yet.

“I can’t carry him or tie up his shoelaces, or my own shoelaces, do the shopping, push a trolley, push a pram.

“I go to pick things up and forget there are fingers not there.”

Ms Fisher gave up her career in hairdressing and struggles with tasks

Ms Fisher is now having regular checks as epithelioid sarcoma has a high re-occurrence rate. She urged others to seek a second medical opinion whenever possible, believing an earlier biopsy may have prevented amputation.

Richard Vines, director of Rare Cancers Australia, said a late diagnosis like Ms Fisher’s was devastating for many patients.

“We talk about 90 per cent survival rate for breast cancer, melanoma, and prostate cancer, that‘s because we find them early,” he said.

“With the less common cancers we are not finding them until it’s too late.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to support Ms Fisher, who is a single mum.

She was supported throughout her ordeal by Rare Cancers Australia, which is calling on the public to help raise funds to give more Australians access to vital rare cancer support. Click here to donate.

Originally published as Tragedy of small bump on mum’s hand