A SCHOOLGIRL who had her leg amputated after suffering from a rare bone cancer has defied the odds to become a competitive dancer.

    Ballerina Gabi Shull had been dancing for three years when, aged just 9, she was diagnosed with osteocarcoma in her knee — leaving her parents fearing the worst.

    But thanks to a groundbreaking operation that saw her foot attached to her upper leg, and a lot of determination, the 14-year-old is now back on her toes and hoping to inspire others.

    Gabi, from Missouri, America, first realized there was something wrong after falling on her knee while ice skating in January 2011.

    At first her parents thought it was just bruised but after two weeks without improvement they took her to hospital for an x-ray.

    Initially doctors believed she had sustained a stress fracture but an MRI scan a few weeks later showed that she had cancer.

    Gabi’s mother Debbie said, “We went to the doctor and he told us the news. He said, ‘your daughter has what we think, could be cancer. A type of cancer called Osteosarcoma.’

    “We were shocked. He had to repeat what he said because I didn’t believe him. I didn’t think my ears heard him correctly.

    “Gabi asked me why this had happened to her and we said you know sometimes bad things happen to good people we don’t know why but we have to do our best to get through it — and that’s what we did.”

    Gabi embarked on 12 weeks of chemotherapy to shrink the tumor to an operable size.

    She was offered different treatments and amputations but the family chose the rare rotationplasty — which would see her diseased knee removed and foot was rotated 180 degrees then reattached to her upper leg, with her ankle serving as her knee.

    The surgery to allow her the optimum mobility and movement.(SD-Agencies)