THE PINI N
Student-edited paper of McKinley High School Vol. 93 No. 3
Honolulu, Hawaii
Spring Edition
March 2015
Chihiro Mase gets beyond bone cancer restrictions by Silvana Bautista, co-editor It is impossible to know a person at first glance. Chihiro Mase is a 15-year-old sophomore who likes to play around with her friends. She plays the alto saxaphone for the band. At home, she likes to take naps and eat. She seems like a typical high school student but this is not the case. Mase was diagnosed with osteosarcoma when she was 13 years old. According to the American Cancer Society, osteosarcoma is the most common cancer of the bones. It may occur at any age but it is most common in teens. Most osteosarcoma tumors start near the knee. The arm bone near the shoulder is the next most common spot. It can also start in the hip bone, shoulder and jaw. This is especially true in adults. In the case of Mase, she developed it in her leg. She was unable to fold her legs completely. “My leg was a tiny bit swollen but not as much since the cancer was still small,” she said.
Pain in the bone is the most common symptom of osteosarcoma. The pain could come and go. It is also typically worse at night. The pain could get worse through physical activity and a person might have a limp if the tumor is in the leg. Swelling may not occur until a few weeks have passed. A lump may be felt near the area of the tumor. Osteosarcoma may weaken the bone it develops in but it will likely not break it. If a person has a fracture near or through the osteosarcoma, they may experience something very painful. Mase was not shocked at the news. She accepted it. “I usually don’t have an impression,” Mase said. Her mother however, was concerned in the change of their family’s lifestyle. “While I was in treatment, I couldn’t eat raw food, uncooked food, unwashed food, so my mom would clean every food and cook every food,” Mase said. Mase went through treatment from Feb-
ruary 2014 through November 2014. She spent most of her time receiving treatment at Kapiolani Medical Center. Chemotherapy made her feel faint and weak most of the time. Mase said that treatments would sometimes cause a person to vomit or to stop eating. She said that she did not have those problems. However, there was a medication called methotextrate that Mase was allergic to. She had a hard time breathing so they had to stop it immediately and change her medicine. Despite this, Mase still managed to live pleasantly. She did not like the hospital food so she was really happy when her family brought homemade food to her. In addition, her friends from middle school visited her whenever they had the chance after school. One of the friends who visited her, sophomore Tayron Alamag, Please see Sophomore, 12