Woman Suffers 'Mashed Potato' Spine After Gym Injury Turns Out To Be Cancer

One morning in February, Amanda Maple woke up with back pain. The 25-year-old, who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, wasn't too worried. She is a regular gym-goer and assumed the pain was down to a strenuous workout—nothing that wouldn't go away by itself.

Perhaps she'd done "an exercise wrong, and maybe it was a pulled muscle," she told Newsweek. A few weeks later, however, she was still in pain so she went to her doctor.

"They said it was muscle spasms as well," she said. "The doctor felt my back and he saw that it was inflamed, so he gave me a shot in my back to relax my muscles.

"I went along with it, and he said the shot will last four to six weeks. It felt better for maybe a couple of hours, and then it went back to the way it was.

"It was getting progressively worse as time went on. I went back a few weeks later and he gave me another shot, hoping that it would help."

The muscle relaxants weren't having the desired effect and Maple's back pain had not eased, so the doctor scheduled her for a chiropractic session in June. Then, two days before that appointment, she woke up in agony.

"I was in a lot of pain, I could barely get out of bed," she said. "I was trying to see my doctor and he couldn't see me because he was too busy. I went to go pick up a glass of water from the counter and I had no strength. At that point I knew something was really wrong, so I went to the emergency room. That's when all of this really started.

"At the emergency room, I told them I was having back pain and they did an X-ray which showed that my back was almost decompressed in the mid-back area. When I asked the doctor about it, they said they usually see this injury in people who have had car accidents or cancer.

"And at the time, we kind of just laughed that off."

'Part of My Spine Was Like Mashed Potatoes'

After the X-ray, Maple was swiftly admitted to hospital for an MRI scan to get a closer look at her spine.

"That's when they saw that my spine was deteriorating. My cancer was localized, so it was eating away at part of my spine. They knew the spine was really weak in that area because there wasn't a lot of bone density. Your bone shouldn't be hollow, but mine was becoming like that. Even when they did surgery, they said that part of my spine was like mashed potatoes."

Maple had to wait a week for the operation, because the hospital needed to bring in a specialist. During that time, she was placed on bed rest as doctors believed she was at risk of paralysis if any further damage was done to her spine. Looking back, she now sees it as "a blessing" that she didn't return to her doctors for her chiropractic appointment, adding that it "could have paralyzed me."

Her T8 to T10 vertebrae were removed in the intricate operation. "They had to remove three thoracic vertebrae, and then a cage had to go in there to stabilize my back,". she said.

"It took surgery to find out what cancer I had, because they had to take out part of that bone—or mashed potatoes—and send it off for a biopsy. That's when they found out that it was cancer.

"It falls under the myeloma [blood cancer] umbrella, but it's specifically called a plasmacytoma and that's because it was localized."

What Is Plasmacytoma?

This type of blood cancer can grow in the bones or soft tissue, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, part of the National Library of Medicine. It occurs when plasma cells become abnormal and multiply, creating tumors in the bone or tissue.

Plasmacytoma usually presents itself through pain in the affected region, such as the ribs or vertebrae. Less common symptoms are headaches, double vision, ear pain, dizziness or compression fractures.

Dr Claire Murphy is a hemopathologist—specialist in blood diseases—based in Springfield, Oregon. She told Newsweek that plasmacytoma "erodes the bone," leading to pain in that region.

Murphy, who is medical director of the Riverbend Hospital Laboratory in Springfield and a spokesperson for the College of American Pathologists, added that the tumors "are known to destroy the bone where it's growing, which is why patients usually present with pain, often as a result of a broken bone at the site.

"On an X-ray, this is called a lytic lesion, or a dark spot on the bone where it's been destroyed. The vertebral bones which make up the spine are complex, and if there is an area of weakness or fracture, this can affect the connective tissues and other bones around it."

It is a rare cancer and "even rarer in young women," Murphy added. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states there are only about 450 cases a year, with a higher prevalence among men aged 55-60.

Most cases of plasmacytoma are treated with surgery. Patients can go through radiotherapy, chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation, depending on the region and severity.

'There Are Things That I'll Never Be Able To Do Again'

Maple remained in hospital for three weeks after her surgery, to manage the pain. She was then transferred to a rehabilitation center where she spent a week learning how to walk again. Her cancer treatment didn't end there, however. Once she had regained some of her strength, she started radiotherapy.

Maple said: "We waited about four weeks to let my back heal a bit, and then we started radiation. I had five weeks of radiation, three times a week. The radiation made me feel nauseous and a lot of fatigue. I got to keep all my hair, though, so that was great at least.

"In October I found out that I'm in remission, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm out of the woods yet. With my cancer specifically, it's high risk for coming back in the first two years. So, they watch me very closely and I get blood work done every three months.

"My back's not 100 percent, and there are things that I'll never be able to do again. It's not recommended that I run ever again, and I can't go do an hour workout at the gym because it would hurt too much."

Maple is now keen to spread awareness, imploring people to listen to their bodies and push for thorough checks if they think something might be wrong.

"The whole reason for sharing my story was to inspire people to be an advocate for their health and to stand up for themselves. We know our body better than anyone else, so if we feel like something is wrong, let that be an extra inspiration for people to get checked.

She added: "Oftentimes people tend to think they're invincible, especially when you're young. And we're not, so I think that was the whole point of me putting out my story, for people to take their health seriously. For a long time, I wrote my pain off and thought it was fine, but something was really wrong and I needed to seek medical attention."

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