22 SIDELINES JANUARY 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Leah’s first ride with her prosthetic leg.
Sidelines
Magazine part-
nered with Tucci, makers of
beautiful handcrafted riding
boots, to host the “Anything Is
Possible” contest in which one
lucky winner would receive a
custom pair of Tucci boots. Two
of the stories were so outstand-
ing that Tucci selected two win-
ners. This month, we feature our second winner, Leah
Little, an amazing young woman with an incredible sto-
ry. Leah is strong, inspirational and has definitely proven
that anything is possible. If you missed the first Tucci
winner, you can read Taylor Spurgeon’s story in the De-
cember issue of
Sidelines
. Thank you Tucci for recog-
nizing both of these young ladies.
everyone around her. She found encouragement through her
family and friends and motivation through her desire to find herself
once again at home on the back of a horse.
The Prognosis
After several blood tests and X-rays, the doctors diagnosed
Leah with Osteosarcoma – a type of bone cancer that develops
from osteoblasts (bone-forming cells). Should the cancer spread,
it can affect other bones or even the lungs.
The cancer is relatively rare. According to Leah’s doctors, there
are only approximately five new cases reported in Ireland each
year (Leah lives in Wicklow, Ireland). That being said, treatments
are still being developed. Luckily for Leah, research has come a
long way.
In the 1960’s, the only treatment available was amputation
and, even after removing the affected limb, only a few patients
survived more than two years after the diagnosis. Today, patients
like Leah can be treated with chemotherapy to kill the cancerous
cells and several surgery options are available – including surgery
that removes the tumor without amputation. The fatality rates are
also much lower.
Unfortunately for Leah, limb-sparing surgery was not an option.
Although at first doctors were optimistic she would recover without
amputating her leg, even after months of chemo the risk of the
cancer spreading was too high, as was the risk of the alternative
surgery permanently damaging veins, nerves and arteries.
“The nurse told me I would be able to go back to swimming
and horseback riding,” explained Leah. “She said it might even
be better that you don’t have your leg because if they did start
a certain type of surgery, it would damage your nerves and you
probably wouldn’t be able to walk or do sports. So, in a way, it was
a good thing.”
So on February 28, which also happened to be Leah’s birthday,
she underwent surgery to have her leg amputated. “The consultant
tried really hard to change the surgery date, but she couldn’t,”
Leah explained, adding with a laugh, “I got a week before that and
a week after that of basically everything birthday though.”
A Positive Attitude
While it would have been all too easy for Leah to fall into a
depressive slump, she held her head high and never lost hope.
“I tried my hardest to just keep looking for the good stuff in
everything,” she said. “The horses were one thing [that pushed
me through].”
Despite being in and out of school due to the chemo and not
being able to ride or even visit horses for several months, Leah
always tried to find something positive to hold onto. According to
her mom, Karen Power, Leah has been an inspiration.
“It has been very hard, but she’s been absolutely amazing,”
Karen said. “She’s just astonished me with how good she’s been.”
She added, “I’m crying all the time. Leah never cries. I think I’ve
seen her cry twice the whole time since she’s been diagnosed.
She’s just a fantastic, brilliant girl.”
Leah said that while she’s still got a few sessions of chemo left,
the therapy isn’t as bad as it was before. She’s on better anti-
sickness drugs and, at least now, she’s well enough to go to the
barn every once in a while and attend half days at school.
Like Leah, her mom also holds onto the good days. “When I
think back over the past 10 months, I wonder how I got through
it all,” she said. “But when it comes down to the crunch, you just
have to get on with it and we’ve always tried to do as much as we
can and work around the chemo. She would be in the hospital for
months on end, so as soon as she got feeling better we would
start doing things.”
After hearing Leah’s mom explain their journey together, it’s
easy to see where Leah gets her strength.
Leah’s also not as anxious about having lost her hair. She has
two different hairpieces that she wears with a hat or bandana, but
now she only puts them on once in a while to go out.
She even jokes about how her hair will grow back. “When I was
on break [from chemotherapy] after the amputation, my hair started
growing back really dark – almost black,” she said. “It was kind of
weird seeing me with a different hair color. It grew quite long, but
it wasn’t enough to tell if it was going to be curly again or straight.”
Leah hopes her hair grows back straight next time. “I used to have
really curly hair and it was really hard to do anything with it,” she
laughed.
Back in the Saddle
Throughout all the pain and suffering, the will to get back in
the saddle was one thing that kept Leah going – and helped her
maintain a positive attitude. Despite not having her own horse,
horses have been a huge part of Leah’s life for the past six years
and she wasn’t about to give up on them.
