Latest news with #TessaMcHugh
Daily Mail
13-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Tessa bumped into a classmate during school sport at 16. But her 'sore shoulder' was a sign of something far more sinister going on in her body...
When 16-year-old Tessa McHugh brushed shoulders with a classmate during a casual game of school sport, she didn't think twice about it. 'It was just a little bump,' the now-25-year-old, from Adelaide, told FEMAIL. 'But the pain in my shoulder wouldn't go away.' What started as a dull ache soon became something far more serious. The initial bump had highlighted a sinister growth lurking in her body. 'I mentioned it to Mum in passing and she felt a large lump on my shoulder blade,' she recalled. A routine GP visit quickly turned into a series of scans and tests. Within two weeks, doctors delivered devastating news: Tessa had stage-two chondrosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer. 'I'd never even heard of sarcoma, let alone chondrosarcoma,' she said. 'It was confronting and distressing to hear that at 16.' Unlike other cancers, chondrosarcoma is notoriously resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The only treatment is surgical removal of the tumour, and in Tessa's case, it wouldn't just be one operation. Just six weeks after her diagnosis, she underwent her first surgery at Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital. Surgeons performed a subtotal scapulectomy, removing a large portion of her shoulder blade and surrounding muscle. 'The pain was a persistent ache,' she said, 'and it affected how much I could move my arm.' But that was just the beginning. Complications followed the initial surgery, and Tessa underwent two more operations to manage damage from the invasive procedure. And then came the unthinkable: the cancer returned. Not once, but three times. Each time, it was discovered during routine scans. This meant going back into hospital and preparing for yet another surgery. Between January 2016 and March 2018, Tessa endured six major surgeries, spaced just months apart. 'There were definitely lots of moments when I was really tired and frustrated,' she said. 'I'd just heal from one surgery, and then I'd have a scan that showed another tumour.' Despite the emotional toll, she never hesitated to continue treatment. 'Knowing that surgery was my only option, I just had to keep going,' she said. While many teenagers worry about exams and friendships, Tessa was navigating hospital corridors and post-op recoveries. But school became her anchor. 'School was something normal while all of these medical things were happening,' she explained. 'It gave me a sense of consistency. I actually enjoyed going when I was able.' Teachers and friends rallied around her, and her close-knit family were by her side every step of the way. 'My mum, dad, older brother and uncle - who is a medical professional - were my biggest supports,' she said. 'They were always there for appointments and helped out when my arm was in a sling.' It's now been nearly a decade since her diagnosis, and Tessa has learned to live with the long-term effects of her surgeries. 'I can't really lift my arm above my head,' she said. 'So a lot of over-the-shoulder movements are out. But I focus on what I can do, not what I can't.' She's careful not to overstrain herself, adjusting her daily routine to suit her physical limits. 'The human body is amazing,' she reflected. 'I've adapted.' Growing up, she was an avid horse rider - a passion that had to be put on hold. 'After surgery, there's always a long recovery period. I had to be really mindful about healing before doing anything too active.' But throughout her recovery, nature and animals became a source of comfort. Living on a large property, Tessa found peace in the outdoors. 'I've always been connected to nature. Spending time with my pets and being outside was really important for my mental health.' That deep connection to healing eventually shaped her future. Today, she works as a provisional psychologist, helping others navigate trauma and hardship. 'Cancer doesn't define who I am,' she said. 'But it has shaped my perspective and values. Going through it during adolescence - when you're still figuring out who you are - has had a huge impact.' Though she's in remission, Tessa continues to have yearly scans. She'll reach her 10-year milestone in 2028, after which regular checks will stop. Until then, the fear of recurrence still lingers. 'The anxiety that it's going to come back is very real,' she said. 'Because it already did - three times.' And while she's been told the tumour may have been growing for up to nine months before diagnosis, there were no warning signs until that fateful bump at school. 'I had no idea anything was wrong,' she said. 'It just felt like a sore shoulder.' Tessa hopes her story encourages others to listen to their bodies and seek help when something doesn't feel right. She also wants young people going through cancer to know they're not alone. For Tessa, that strength was forged through pain, persistence, and the love of family, nature, and community. She may not lift her arm above her head anymore, but she holds her head high. In line with Sarcoma Awareness Month (July) ANZSA is calling on people to register for The Great Sarcoma Plankathon, a national fundraising event to support sarcoma research by planking for 60 minutes across the month. Funds raised through the Plankathon will go directly towards sarcoma research and clinical trials co-ordinated by ANZSA, with the aim of improving survival rates and quality of life for those diagnosed.
News.com.au
01-07-2025
- Health
- News.com.au
Australian teen faced six surgeries in just two years
A young woman who had a cancer so rare that her GP had never seen a case of it in person before is revealing the gruelling six surgeries she endured to treat it. Tessa McHugh, now 25, was in PE class in Year 10 when she was bumped during the lesson, prompting persistent pain in the side of her upper arm and shoulder. 'It felt like an insignificant bump but the pain was really bad. I went home and told Mum, who had a look and noticed there was a really large, hard lump on the back of my shoulder blade,' Ms McHugh told The Adelaide teenager's mother took her to the GP the next day, who mentioned he'd never seen anything like it before. She was sent for an X-ray, an ultrasound and a CT. 'It was then I was sent back to the GP and told it was likely cancer but there wasn't a lot of detail,' she said. At 16, she had both of her parents with her. She knew something wasn't right but when she was told it was likely cancer it was very 'confronting and overwhelming'. 'It almost felt like an out of body experience. It's very difficult to explain because it's not something you'd ever assume you'd hear,' she said. She was soon admitted to the Women and Children's hospital, where she underwent a biopsy and discovered she had Stage 2 Chrondosarcoma — something her GP had never seen in-person before. Ms McHugh herself had never heard of sarcoma before. It's a bone sarcoma that develops in cartilage cells, and is resistant to treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. It is typically seen in older adults. She had to wait six weeks from her diagnosis to her first surgery in January 2016 — just before she was set to start Year 11. The 'invasive' surgery went well, and all signs of the tumour were removed. There were a few complications with the wound, with doctors at first thinking the tumour had returned. It resulted in two additional surgeries that same year. She was having scans every three months to monitor any potential recurrences, and heartbreakingly in December that year doctors found one. She had another surgery to remove the new tumour. Things were looking positive for the next nine months, and Ms McHugh was still having scans every three months. But, again, it was looking like another tumour was developing. 'That was a bit of a waiting game, where they could see there was something tumour-like on the scans but couldn't confirm because the biopsy they tried to do was not successful,' she said. 'Again, it was a four to six-week wait and they confirmed it was definitely the cancer. That was another really invasive surgery where they removed part of my shoulder joint and put surgical mesh in to keep as much function of my arm as they could. 'It was just three months after that I had another recurrence — my third since the original tumour.' She had yet another surgery, totalling six surgeries in two years plus two biopsies. Each of the surgeries impacted the function of her shoulder, with the first seeing a lot of her scapula and the muscles surrounding it removed. This was compounded by the surgery that saw the mesh put into her arm. Over the two years, she wore a sling for approximately nine months. She managed to adapt, working with her physio. During this time, Ms McHugh was determined to try to keep life as normal as possible — meaning when she was well enough, she was at school. She said her teachers were incredibly supportive about what she was going through. 'I was in denial for quite a long time, that was a protective factor. Although there were all these physical things that I was going through in terms of my health — but also my mental health,' she said. 'It was really hard trying to navigate being a teenager alongside a cancer diagnosis, and it being so rare that people don't often know about it or understand it. I also looked relatively well the whole time because I had surgeries, I was young and otherwise healthy and managed to recover quite well from the surgeries that it didn't really stand out that I did have cancer.' It's been close to a decade since Ms McHugh was first diagnosed, and she has been in remission for seven years, getting scans every year. She's now a provisional psychologist, and still sees her physiotherapist once a month. She is still always very mindful about how she uses her arm and shoulder. 'I've just started studying for my Masters of Psychology, which has been very exciting and busy, and I work as a provisional psychologist with children,' the university student said. Ms McHugh is sharing her story as part of Sarcoma Awareness Month. 'When people hear about these different types of cancers, it not only supports an increase of funding and research around it, but also raises people's awareness in case people experience it as well so they know some of those earlier signs,' she said. 'I was 16 at the time I was diagnosed, I guess I had this unconscious perception of what it looked like when someone was diagnosed with cancer and so for me one of the biggest challenges was because it was rare and so different. 'One of the common associations with cancer is that the interventions are often chemotherapy or radiotherapy. It is important to recognise that there are many different interventions for cancer, and that everyone's experience is going to be different.'
