Fresh start for cancer student

Nick Richards gave consent for doctors to amputate his leg if an operation went wrong

His bags were packed and he was looking forward to living away from home for the first time in his life, but two days before he was due to leave for Cardiff University Nick Richards's doctor began to suspect he had bone cancer.

After recovering he is now due to begin his university course. Here the 20-year-old from Pembroke tells the story of his past 12 months.

I found out I had cancer when I noticed a lump on my knee, but I'd been playing cricket and hockey more or less everyday for a month so I just figured I'd got hit by the ball.

After a couple of weeks it hadn't gone away and if anything had got bigger.

I was due to go to university in two days and had my bags packed and then the doctor phoned and said he really thought I should stay and have tests as he didn't like the look of the X-ray.

I got sent for a bone scan, MRI and a bone biopsy. It came back as cancerous.

I was obviously shocked, people my age just don't get cancer... or so I thought.

Apparently the type of bone cancer I have (Osteosarcoma) is very rare, only a few cases every year and it only effects people around the age of 20.

Not knowing if you'll have a leg when you wake up is terrifying Nick Richards

The surgeon that performed the operation said that the GP who had sent me for all the tests had basically saved my life by catching it so early and that many people died from this type because it wasn't very well known.

The treatment for my cancer was very aggressive chemotherapy followed by surgery to replace my knee and part of my tibia, followed my more chemotherapy.

The chemotherapy was extremely hard on me and I spent a lot of time throwing up. I went from 10 stone to seven stone in six months and spent Christmas and new years in hospital when my white blood count crashed.

I think in January I spent 26 days in hospital.

'Big Issue'

Eventually my veins started to get worse and worse from all the needles that everyone was sticking in me and like everything some people are better than others.

I got to know which nurses were good and I'd refuse to let some nurses touch me and I would ask for other ones that I knew were good.

It may seem petty but when you have to get stuck five or six times just to get enough blood for one test and you have to have tests everyday pretty soon it becomes a big issue.

Also some of the medication I used to have to take had to be taken every three hours. I used to end up so tired.

Nick Richards went from 10 stone to seven stone in six months

Perhaps the scariest moment of my life was having my operation when I had to sign a consent for the doctor to amputate my leg if he couldn't successfully do the knee replacement - not knowing if you'll have a leg when you wake up is terrifying.

When I came around in the recovery unit I couldn't feel anything below my waist because of the drugs they had given me and I couldn't sit up in bed.

The nurse that was looking after me didn't say anything (everyone in the recovery unit has a nurse watching them to make sure they don't have a reaction to the drugs and the like).

So I was left lying there thinking "Do I want to ask if I have a leg? or do I want to wait until I can sit up and look?

I know that waiting until I can 'feel' it won't help because some people that have lost their legs think they can feel it still.

In the end I was still trying to decide when someone told me the surgery had gone very well so I was saved from that decision.

'Massive struggle'

I had a great deal of support from my family, even people that I hadn't seen very often or a long time ago. Lots of people were calling my parents to find out how I was and that was nice.

I also had some friends that helped. One guy I played hockey with and was going to Cardiff University came to see me in hospital and was shocked by how sick I was.

But overall I didn't see many of my friends during my treatment as I spent most of time in Velindre Hospital (Cardiff) so I was a long way from anyone that had stayed in Pembrokeshire to work and most of my other friends were at various universities anyway.

I learnt a lot about how different people react in different situations Nick Richards

When I got home I spent the next three months more or less in bed as I couldn't walk very more than a few feet on crutches and even that was a massive struggle.

One of my best friends gave me his Xbox to play on for a few weeks as there wasn't a lot I could do.

I didn't have much support apart from Tenovus and it felt a bit like nobody wanted to deal with me.

Services in Cardiff weren't interested because I didn't live in Cardiff, ones in Pembrokeshire weren't because I wasn't having my treatment in Pembrokeshire.

Maggi Evans from Tenovus was very helpfully, coming to visit me on the ward to see how I was doing as well as getting my doctor to actually come and see me (no this surprisingly didn't happen automatically - my treatment was largely left to the nurses).

Crying and whining

She also helped me apply for disability benefits and the like which helped easy the financial burden on my parents.

I learnt a lot about how different people react in different situations. I used to lie in hospital and some other patients were good - I remember discussing math problems with one and rugby with another.

But there were some people that would really annoy me. Three men betting on horse racing at 0600BST will get on your nerves pretty quick when you're being woken up to take tablets all the time and just want to sleep.

One middle-aged man was crying in the bed next to me, when he was expected to make a full recovery and whining about every little thing that was wrong with his life, even though he was surrounded by friends and family.

While the man on the other side of me had at most 18 months to live even if the chemotherapy was successful and he had the classic stiff upper lip the whole time.

I kept wanting to tell the one to shut up - he didn't have anything to worry about when the guy next to me could be dead this time next year.

I guess for me the most important thing about resuming my studies is that I can get back to my life.

When I get to Cardiff and get into my first lecture then I'll finally be able to put the last year behind me and move on.

I'll still have a big scar on my leg, I'll still have to do physio and I might never run again in my life (which after being very into sport I'll find difficult).

But I'll able able to forget about everything that has happened and focus on the future. So I'm looking forward to resuming my studies a great deal as well as living on my own for the first time in my life.