169: Adam Deans survived osteosarcoma | bone cancer | distal femur | prosthetic leg

About this episode

Adam Deans shares his journey of surviving osteosarcoma and his transition to wheelchair basketball after losing his leg.

Adam Deans was an athletic teenager and had aspirations of becoming a professional athlete. However, all that changed when he fell down a flight of stairs at school. At first, doctors thought Adam had dislocated his left knee, but upon getting further medical attention, tests showed he had cancer, known as osteosarcoma in his distal femur. Doctors recommended chemotherapy, but when that was ineffective, the leg was amputated in 2005. In 2008, a friend introduced Adam to wheelchair basketball. Still with his athletic prowess, he learned the sport quickly and became good at it, eventually the Australian national team. It won the world championship in 2014 and in 2016, Adam played for the national team at the Paralympics at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Adam retired from wheelchair basketball in 2017, but now married with two children, he is happy with his life. Adam wanted to become a professional football player in his native Australia. He seemed positioned for such a pursuit until one day in his final year of high school when his leg broke as he was going down a flight of stairs. Rushing him to the hospital, paramedics initially thought Adam had dislocated his left knee…

People in this episode

Host: Jim Foster

Guest: Adam Deans

Topics covered

• osteosarcoma
• bone cancer
• wheelchair basketball
• athletic recovery
• Paralympics
• amputation
• personal story

Keywords

• osteosarcoma
• bone cancer
• amputation
• wheelchair basketball
• Paralympics
• athlete recovery
• personal story

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Australian national team, Paralympics, Summer Olympics

Places: Australia

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