Thinking it was nothing more than a sports injury, the true cause of her pain was not discovered until the disease had spread to 80 per cent of her humerus bone.

After having scans done locally, Ms Phillips was referred to Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital and given her diagnosis — chondroblastic osteosarcoma, the rarest form of bone cancer.

“I honestly just thought that I had hurt myself playing sport,” the Illowa resident said.

“You just think ‘it’ll be right, it’ll heal, it’ll be fine’. But it wasn’t fine.” 

Chemotherapy began at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre late last year and then surgery. “It took 10 hours to do what they had to do,” Ms Phillips said of the operation.

“The reason I was in so much pain was that it had burst out the top of the bone and into my cartilage, so they had to take part of my shoulder joint and they removed my humerus bone and my elbow and they replaced that with titanium. 

“Now I’ve got the process of trying to get my arm and shoulder working again. 

“It’s probably going to be a good six to 12 months of rehab to get my arm moving and working again.” 

More chemotherapy will follow and Ms Phillips can expect to regain only about 80 per cent of movement in that arm.

“My outlook is a lot more positive than what it was at the beginning now that I’ve been through the surgery. The fact that they could save my arm and not amputate was a pretty big deal,” she said. 

“I’m just happy to be on the tail end of treatment and hoping that once I’ve finished I can get back to living my life again and get back to work and more of a social life.” 

Still, it’s a difficult outlook for someone who once enjoyed an active lifestyle, playing netball for East Warrnambool and boxing at Rodney Ryan’s gym.

“I was hoping when I got fit enough I would be able to start sparring with some of the people there, but unfortunately I won’t be able to play contact sport ever again,” she said.

“I’ve got to look at different outlets for doing fitness now.”

Now on the bumpy road to recovery, Ms Phillips and her family are determined to help others avoid the same fate.

Parents John and Deidre said in the six months before diagnosis, the family had been searching for answers to the cause of their daughter’s pain.

“One of the things we were worried about is the amount of time this went undiagnosed. Now that’s partly on us, but honestly, really no one was looking for it,” Mr Phillips said.

“It’s not something that sprung to mind and we get down there (to Peter Mac) and find it’s getting more and more common.

“The growth was in 80 per cent of the bone at the time they started. Well obviously, if it was less than that your treatment would be shorter or not as severe. The earlier you can diagnose it the better.”

Ms Phillips was seeking treatment through an osteopath for the pain in her shoulder, never thinking it could be something more serious.

“When I got diagnosed they told me only four in every 100,000 people get this diagnosis, so it’s pretty rare,” she said.

Mum Deidre said it was a disease that could be easily overlooked.

“If your child’s got an ache or a pain, it’s not necessarily growing pains or just an injury,” she said. 

“We want people and doctors in the country to become more aware of this growing sarcoma cancer in young people.”

Mrs Phillips said the rare nature of the disease meant there was limited support available. 

“There’s not much out there for sarcoma,” she said.

“There’s one young girl who has just started her own Facebook page and all the people she’s met in the hospital keep in touch that way. If she has a problem she will inbox someone and ask for advice. Apart from that there’s not a great deal available.”

After celebrating her 26th birthday last Saturday Ms Phillips is looking forward to a brighter future ahead, but she has a warning for others who suffer similar symptoms.

“Don’t put it off as long as I did to go and get it looked at,” she said.