171: Hope Nightingale survived osteosarcoma | neoadjuvant chemotherapy | cisplatin | doxorubicin

171: Hope Nightingale survived osteosarcoma | neoadjuvant chemotherapy | cisplatin | doxorubicin

From Cancer Interviews by Jim Foster

March 31, 2026 · 22 min

About this episode

Hope Nightingale shares her journey of surviving Stage II osteosarcoma and her rehabilitation process.

At age four, Hope Nightingale complained of severe pain in her legs. At first, her parents thought she was just being a hypochondriac. That changed when she fell off her scooter and broke the distal femur in her left leg. The following year, 2011, this led to a diagnosis of Stage II osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. After a regimen of neoadjuvant chemotherapy featuring cisplatin and doxorubicin, Hope underwent a surgical procedure, a vascularized fibula transplant. Her left femur was removed, and her right fibula was inserted in its place. Confined to a wheelchair and then crutches at such a young age, Hope underwent extensive physiotherapy rehabilitation so that she could relearn how to walk despite her left leg being 2cm shorter than her right leg. Hope has survived and is training to compete in a half marathon! Hope says as a four-year-old she was often accused of overreacting to just about everything. So, when she complained of pain in her legs, her parents did not take the complaints seriously. That changed when she fell off her scooter, couldn't get up and her parents discovered she had broken her left leg. She had her distal femur x-rayed. That led to a biopsy, and, at…

People in this episode

Host: Jim Foster

Guest: Hope Nightingale

Topics covered

  • osteosarcoma
  • neoadjuvant chemotherapy
  • cancer survival
  • physiotherapy
  • marathon training

Keywords

  • osteosarcoma
  • neoadjuvant chemotherapy
  • cisplatin
  • doxorubicin
  • physiotherapy
  • marathon training
  • cancer survival

Mentioned in this episode

Products: cisplatin, doxorubicin

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