Patient of the Week – Bria Brown

By Shands/PIO
August 20, 2009

Bria Brown, a 13 year-old Miami girl, calls herself the Queen Bee Survivor — and that she is. When she was only 6 years old, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare, progressive form of bone cancer. The disease targets the knees, one of the fastest growing areas in the legs. Osteosarcoma is so rare that only one baby in a million will develop the disease.

Bria’s mother Carol took Bria to the emergency room to be treated for an unrelated illness when Bria reminded her to talk with the doctor about the pain she was experiencing in her left leg. “I thought the pain had come from her jumping around and running,” said Brown.

Bria’s mother said after Bria was diagnosed with bone cancer, their lives were turned upside down. “Bria was hospitalized for almost nine months in Miami Children’s Hospital. She lost all of her hair from the chemotherapy, and I lived at the hospital,” said Brown.

After Bria completed chemotherapy seven years ago, she and her parents learned that the bone cancer had spread to other areas in her leg. The recommended solution was amputation. “That just wasn’t an option for us,” said Brown, who was determined to spare her daughter’s leg and quality of life.

Bria’s physician referred her family to a University of Florida orthopaedic surgeon in Gainesville who was helping patients avoid amputation thanks to a new rod implantation procedure.

“My husband told the doctor that we were radical people who were willing to consider anything besides amputation,” added Brown.

Life-changing surgery

In 2001, Bria and B. Hudson Berrey, M.D., a professor in the UF Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, met for the first time with the hope of sparing Bria’s leg.

“Because the disease had almost spread to her hip, they didn’t think she was a candidate for a limb-sparing procedure, which is why they recommended amputation,” said Berrey, who performed Bria’s initial surgery seven years ago at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Berrey said the most difficult part of performing the seven-hour surgery was removing all of the cancer, then removing the diseased femur (thigh bone). Berrey reconstructed Bria’s leg using a custom-made implant.

“The first rod grew her leg a fair number of inches, and then two years ago she had a revision. I replaced the original one, which had gotten as long as it would go. I redesigned the proximal end and put a new rod in to continue to watch her grow,” said Berrey.

As Bria grows, her leg can be lengthened by heating an element in the implant that allows a spring inside of it to expand, thus allowing her left leg to grow the same length as the right leg.

Berrey has shared this procedure with other orthopaedic surgeons but says there are very few surgeons who will do this type of procedure and address these problems. “You have to believe in it, and I believe it is the best solution that we have at this point in time,” said Berrey.

Building lasting relationships

Bria and her family make the trip to Shands Jacksonville every three to four months to have her leg adjusted. Berrey, who was appointed chair of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville in 2002, have continued to develop a very special relationship with the Brown family. Bria says because Berrey saved her leg, she now wants to attend the UF and become a pediatrician.

“I want to give back because it is something I enjoy doing,” said Bria, who spends a lot of time dancing, and participating in extracurricular activities. She currently holds a 3.7 grade point average and has raised more than $120,000 for the American Cancer Society as a volunteer. “I will be going to Washington, D.C., in May to represent the state of Florida for the Spirit of the Community Award that will be presented by the American Cancer Society.”

Berrey said it has been a rewarding experience working with Bria and getting to know her family. “When I first met Bria, her sister Jada was just a baby and now she’s 6 years old, the same age Bria was when I performed her initial surgery. Now I have a special relationship with her father Ed Brown and her grandparents.”

Source: Shands Children Hospital

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