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Man recovering from rare cancer diagnosis An Omaha man is dealing with a very rare form of cancer that only two out of a million people get diagnosed with each year, but he's not alone. His mom and dad are also battling cancer at the same time. Share Shares Copy Link Copy

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WEBVTT "SYNOVIAL SARCOMA." A CANCER SO RARE YOU HAVE A TWO IN A áMILLION CHANCE OF HAVING IT. BUT THOSE ODDS WERE AGAINST AN OMAHA MAN... LEADING TO A TOUGH SACRIFICE. KETV NEWSWATCH SEVEN'S ALEX HOFFMAN REPORTS. AT 23 YEARS OLD..DEREK NOEL SAYS HE NEVER EXPECTED TO HEAR THE WORDS.."YOU HAVE CANCER." UNTIL THIS BUMP ON HIS FOOT CHANGED EVERTHING.( DEREK NOEL: "I wasn't really too worried about it, I didn't think anything was too serious." ) BUT THE BUMP JUST KEPT GROWING.( DEREK NOEL: "It was a little uncomfortable but nothing hurt from it." ) NOEL FINALLY DECIDED TO GET THE BUMP CHECKED OUT BY DR SEAN MCGARRY AT THE NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER.. ...WHO SPECIALIZES IN ORTHOPEDIC ONCOLOGY.( DR SEAN MCGARRY / NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: "I kind of deal in the business of lumps and bumps and tell people if something is growinCA it's something that needs to be looked at." )( DEREK NOEL: "He comes back and pretty much breaks the bad news to us that this is what we think it is after the biopsy, that it's synovial sarcoma." ) SYNOVIAL SARCOMA IS RARE.. BUT IT OCCURS MOSTLY IN YOUNG MEN. IT ATTACKS CONNECTIVE TISSUE-- LIKE TENDONS-- AND THE CAVITIES OF JOINTS. AND IT GROWS SLOWLY--....SO LIKE IN NOEL'S CASE-- IT TOOK A WHILE TO NOTICE SOMETHING WAS WRONG. BY THEN-- AMPUTATION WAS OE BEST OPTION. ( DR SEAN MCGARRY / NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: "This is sensitive to chemotherapy." ) SO DR MCGARRY AMPUTATED PART OF DEREK'S LEFT LEG. DEPITE THE ODDS.. NOEL SAYS HE NEVER LET áFEAR STAND IN HIS WAY.( DEREK NOEL: "I accepted that this is what I am going to do and I'm going to really fight through the CANCER IS NO STRANGER TO DEREK. HIS MOM HAS BREAST CANCER..HIS DAD HAS COLORECTAL CANCER. DEREK SAYS THEY FIGHT CANCER TOGETHER ..AND FOR EACH OTHER.( DEREK NOEL: "I want to be a stronger person and I want to show my mom and dad that they raised a really good kid and just to fight through this and really kick cancers ass, to be honest." ) IN OMAHA, ALEX HOFFMAN, KETV NW7. THE NEXT STEP FOR DEREK IS GETTING FITTED WITH A PROSTHESIS.. THEN THERAPY LEARNING TO WALK AGAIN. YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT DEREK, BY CLICKING THE LINK WE POSTED IN THIS STORY ON KETV DOT COM.