A teenager had to have her leg amputated after a GP wrongly diagnosed a rare form of bone cancer as ‘housemaid’s knee’.

Jade Crabtree was just 19 when she went to the doctor worried about swelling in her leg.

Her GP said it was ‘housemaid’s knee’ similar to a repetitive strain injury from kneeling down to clean. But Jade was puzzled by the diagnosis because she was a desk-based office worker.

After multiple visits to the GP it was discovered the pain was due to a tumour that was so aggressive the only treatment medics deemed would work was to amputate her left leg above the knee.

Jade said: ‘It took six or seven visits to the GP before they took me seriously and realised it was a rare form of bone cancer found in teenagers.

Jade Crabtree was just 19 when she went to the doctor after being worried by swelling in her leg.

After multiple visits to the GP it was discovered the swelling was due to a rare form of bone cancer – which later led to doctors having to amputate her left left

‘I was already worried something was really wrong, but when you hear it and it’s real, it is a shock.’

Jade went through two rounds of chemotherapy before hearing the life-changing news that her leg would have to be amputated.

Just 10 days later, she was having the surgery to remove her left leg.

‘To come to terms with the fact I was going to be disabled for the rest of my life was, and still is, hard to believe,’ said Jade.

Jade, now 23, wears a prosthetic leg – but is three years clear of cancer.

Jade, of North Wales, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and was treated at the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry – one of the UK’s five bone sarcoma specialist centres.

There are about 30 new cases of osteosarcoma in children each year in Great Britain.

Although osteosarcoma can develop in any bone, it occurs most often in the bones on either side of the knee and in the upper arm.

Jade (pictured in hospital while having her amputation) says it’s still hard to come to terms with the fact she will be disabled for the rest of her life 

Osteosarcoma is extremely rare under the age of three years and gradually increases with age, with two thirds of childhood cases occurring between the ages of 10 and 14.

Jade was supported by the Bone Cancer Research Trust. She is helping to organise charity events to raise awareness for bone cancer.

She says she now lives life ‘as normally as possible’ with boyfriend Marcus in Liverpool.

She is in the business of helping others, working for company ‘Bulky Bob’s’, who provide reused furniture for those in poverty.

She recently helped to organise – and was co-keynote speaker at – the annual Bone Cancer Ball, which raised £130,000 in one night to support families facing a diagnosis.

Her advice for other young people facing cancer is: ‘The best way to face it is by staying positive – which isn’t always easy – because it will get better and life will get easier.’