In May of 2017, doctors diagnosed Dylan Vitucci with osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone cancer in children and teens. The osteosarcoma was discovered in her right humerus after Dylan suffered a fractured shoulder while playing soccer, just a few weeks before her eighth birthday.
Although Dylan noticed some discomfort a couple days prior, it took a soccer ball striking her in that same shoulder to send her to the hospital. The injury quickly became a blessing in disguise for Dylan and her family as her doctors became alarmed when her range of motion didn’t return despite her fracture healing.
A biopsy was recommended and taken from Dylan’s shoulder in hopes of identifying why her arm had decreased mobility. Doctors were not immediately certain of the specifics concerning her cancer, but they were confident Dylan had a form of sarcoma.
But Dylan never seemed worried, according to her father.
“I think she knew she was going to beat it,” he said. “I don’t know how, but she had something over her that made her feel completely comfortable.”
MTF contacted all 30-plus recovery partners across the United States about the need for an upper humerus graft, and her best match came from another pediatric patient that had died.
Dylan endured an 11-hour surgery to remove the tumor and undergo shoulder reconstruction using the donated allograft along with other prosthetics. She followed her surgery with nine months of chemotherapy, and even spent her first day of third grade in the hospital receiving treatment. But thanks to tutors and even a video-equipped robot, she never skipped a beat.
This confidence Dylan possessed allowed her to power through some difficult moments. Throughout her recovery she faced a number of complications: a blood clot on the outside of her heart, a collapsed lung and a fungus infection throughout her bloodstream.
Yet she and her family continued to live by the motto, “a smile can get you through your toughest day.” And they had. Dylan, who is a triplet with another older sister, frequently exchanged laughter with her three siblings throughout the duration of her recovery. Her sister Sydney would even station herself next to her bed holding hands when that laughter seemed too hard to come by.
Before long Dylan was escorted back to school in style with the help of her local fire department, and was warmly welcomed by all her teachers and classmates.
Dylan is now cancer free and she is beyond grateful to her donor family’s generous gift of life, and MTF’s role in transplantation.
“Thank you to my donor family for their special gift that helped me get better,” she said. “I now have movement in my arm which allows me to do all the activities I could do before I had cancer. I can now play soccer and swim again. It means everything to me that you were so nice to give me the gift of donation.”
Dylan hopes her story reveals to everyone how much you can help and change someone's life through the act of donating organ and tissues.
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