A Fortunate Fall
By Joan Marx
I was a florist in Buffalo, New York. Making floral arrangements in an artistic manner can be challenging. You have to have an eye for it.
One day at work in 1985, I fell in the cooler. When I went to the emergency room for X-rays, they found a tumor behind my left knee.
I was referred to Cleveland Clinic, so I took a bus to Cleveland to see Dr. Stulberg1. He wasn’t comfortable with the results of my biopsy, which first came back as benign. I was sent home, and the biopsy was sent out for more testing. Five weeks later, I was told that I had osteosarcoma2. It was so early that it was hard to detect.
I was prepared to have an amputation, but Dr. Mindell3 at the Erie County Medical Center was able to restructure the bone with a limb-sparing operation.
In some ways, the fall was a blessing, because before that, I had no indication that anything was wrong. I’m thankful that Dr. Stulberg at Cleveland Clinic was so astute. And I’m thankful that Dr. Mindell saved my leg. All these years later, I’m still here.
Joan Marx is retired and living in Florida. One of this former florist’s favorite flowers is the protea.

Illustration: Elvis Swift
Notes
- Bernard Stulberg, MD, is an orthopaedic surgeon.
- Cancer that starts in the bones.
- Eugene Mindell, MD, was an orthopaedic surgeon.