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Harley Kessler started noticing an ache in his shins in the summer.

But Kessler, and mom, chalked it up to shin splints or growing pains. He is 16 after all.

They weren’t worried about a bump on his leg, half the size of a golf ball.

Then, three days into the school year, the pain became so bad that it dropped the Lincoln teen to his knees.

After a series of X-rays and additional tests, doctors diagnosed Kessler with osteosarcoma.

About 600 new cases of osteosarcoma are diagnosed annually in the United States. Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer among children, according to Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s.

Tests showed that the bone cancer had taken over Kessler’s shinbone. Later doctors would amputate part of his left leg, and they’d find cancerous lesions on his lungs.

Kessler is still undergoing chemotherapy, and his family is optimistic.

Before his diagnosis, Kessler hoped to make the University of Nebraska-Lincoln wrestling team. He hoped to go on to become a wrestling coach. Shortly after his amputation, Kessler told his mom that he planned to start training as soon as he healed.