Teen cancer survivor dances en pointe with custom prosthetic foot

(Photo courtesy Fox LA)

A Missouri teen can finally indulge in one of her greatest passions— dancing en pointe— after receiving a custom prosthetic foot following surgery for osteocarcoma.

Gabi Shull, of Warrensburg, was diagnosed with the bone and tissue cancer, which is rare in children, at age 9 in 2011. Following her diagnosis, she had part of her leg amputated then underwent a rotationplasty operation, whereby doctors turned her foot around and placed her heel under her new knee. The rest of her leg is a prosthetic, 41-KSHB reported.

While the new leg and operation enabled Shull to walk, she wasn’t able to practice ballet as she wanted, Fox LA reported. But now, thanks to a custom prosthetic foot that lets her stand on her tiptoes, Shull can dance en pointe once again.

“Dancing means a lot to me,” Shull told FoxLA.com. “I think it’s the main thing that motivated me to  keep going and to learn to walk again because I just really wanted to get back on the stage.”