After more than three years of battling a rare bone cancer, 10-year-old Léna succumbed to the disease

At just 10 years old, Léna had been battling a rare bone tumor in her spine, chordoma, for four years. A disease that took her life on Tuesday, June 3, in the town of Annéot (Yonne), our colleagues at Le Bien Public report.

Lena suffered from chordoma, a type of tumor that affects bones and soft tissues called sarcomas. This type of cancer accounts for only 3% of all bone tumors. Each year, the disease is detected in only one in a million people.

Lena's illness was detected in 2021 after an MRI scan, when the young girl was suffering from back pain that she could not get rid of.

"A chordoma tumor typically grows slowly, often without symptoms at first, and then can cause symptoms for years before doctors discover it," the Chordoma Foundation says on its website.

At the beginning of her treatment, the treatments she followed were working, but Léna suffered a recurrence a year later. "This time, it was behind her head, along the spine," her mother recounted.

Lena then underwent successful surgery. But once again, the cancer returned in the form of two tumors on the right side of her chest. The little girl then underwent a clinical trial, but the tumor spread, and the bad news came. The doctors explained to Lena's parents that there was nothing more that could be done.

They then launched a solidarity fundraising campaign last September in the hope of helping the little girl fly to the United States to benefit from an innovative therapy. Nearly 200,000 euros were raised , and Léna was able to try these treatments, which proved ineffective.

In recent months, the girl's health had declined. She stopped chemotherapy at the end of May and returned home to the village of Annéot.

A few days before her death, despite her fragile health, she had attended a horse race, the Bague race in Semur-en-Auxois on Saturday, May 31, which her mother won and dedicated to her.