When Travis Taylor fractured his hip in March 1996 while playing baseball for Ruffin High School, it was the biggest break of his life—in more ways than one.

Travis had been running along when suddenly his hip gave way. “I was limping and could hardly run,” he recalled. The injury first appeared to be a pulled muscle, and nothing seemed to be broken. But an X-ray showed a fractured hip, and further tests eventually revealed a cancerous tumor of the bone called osteosarcoma.

In July 1996, Travis underwent a 12-hour operation handled by a team of surgeons at MUSC. David Thompson, M.D., a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon, removed the tumor. His colleague, orthopaedic surgeon H. Del Schutte, M.D., replaced Travis’ hip socket and part of his upper thigh bone, using both cadaver bone and a prosthesis in the reconstruction.

Because so much muscle tissue had to be removed in the procedure, microsurgeon John McFadden, M.D., made repairs using muscle from another area of Travis’ leg. The operation was successful, but the ordeal was far from over for Travis.

Under the care of a team of doctors from the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at MUSC Children’s Hospital he began a year-long program of chemotherapy.

“Travis’ chemotherapy consisted of treatments with high-dose methotrexate, cisplatin and adriamycin,” said Miguel Abboud, M.D., one of the doctors treating Travis. This drug combination, along with a bacterial cell-wall product that researchers believe will enhance the body’s immune response against tumors, is being evaluated in a treatment protocol nationwide.

“Bone tumors are relatively uncommon,” Thompson said, “and in the past were often a death sentence.” Previously, amputation was the only treatment option, and patients with bone tumors had only a 10 to 20 percent chance of surviving the cancer. Removing large parts of the affected bone and tissue combined with chemotherapy, has proved to be an effective treatment with a survival rate of greater than 70 percent, Thompson said.

Abboud noted that while doctors at MUSC have had the ability to treat these types of tumors for many years, the arrival of Thompson from Johns Hopkins University now allows patients to receive both surgery and chemotherapy here in Charleston.

“Patients no longer have the burden of traveling hundreds of miles for treatment,” Abboud said.

The chemotherapy often left Travis feeling nauseated, but it didn’t keep him down. “I don’t let it get to me,” he said. “I take it as it comes. It’s not really scary because everything was explained to me in a way that I could understand it. They told me how chemo would take my hair out. So far, the treatment has been successful, and everything has gone the way it should go.”

After the operation, a couple of months passed before Travis would walk again, and the surgery left him with a slight limp. An operation to put more muscle on the outside of his leg should help.

Travis, 15, plays trumpet with his high school’s jazz band and French horn with the marching band. He missed most of the marching season this year, but was able to march in the Rice Festival Parade in Walterboro in April 1997.

The Ruffin High School Marching Patriots place fifth in their division in a statewide marching competition this year. An honor roll student, Travis would like to major in engineering at either Clemson or the University of South Carolina. He’s hoping to attend a math and science honors program in Georgia this summer.

“His attitude has kept me going,” said his mother, Mary Taylor. “He doesn’t let it get him down. Sometimes, I get emotional moments, but I see how well he’s handling it and it keeps me going. That and prayer. We’ve gotten a lot of support from all the churches in our community and our friends.”

Editor's note: The article is reprinted from Checkup newsletter, produced by MUSC Creative Services.