Doctors reattach teenager’s amputated foot backwards to replace cancer-stricken knee-joint

A cancer-stricken teen had his foot amputated and reattached backwards to replace his knee joint after a tumour destroyed his leg.

Tristin Stewart, 15, learnt to walk again after the revolutionary operation saw surgeons remove his shin and knee to give him a fighting chance of life, The Sun reports.

"When we first saw his foot-knee it was a very shocking – but we're all used to it now.

"He loves sport so much that he's now hoping to one day become a Paralympian and he's currently focusing on trying to run with his prosthetic."

Tristan, from Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of soft tissue cancer known as synovial sarcoma in his right leg last June.

He had spent two years in crippling pain after doctors disregarded it as growing pains as he was only 12-years-old.

Finally in February 2017 the teenager had a lump removed from his leg which was later identified as a cancerous tumour.

Mandy said: "We were given two options – they could undergo a full amputation of Tristin's right leg, or a rotationplasty.

"It took a couple of weeks before Tristin turned round and confidently said he wanted the rotationplasty, he told me 'Mummy, that means I'll have a knee and more function.'

"On June 7 2017 Tristin then had his operation, and we were told it was the first of its kind to happen in Northern Ireland.

"When went in to see him after the operation you could see under the covers that his leg was gone, and Shane and I were nervous to see what underneath.