I have a friend with a 12 year old. He is a good athlete and pitcher. This summer he broke his elbow (can't remember how). It did not heal properly - more medical care .. . Now they are telling him that the bone is dying. She is going to a specialist this week in KC. Cancer is not involved. Has anyone experienced this? What was the prognosis and what did you do? Where did you go? This mother is just heart broken for her son.

I might be way off base here so if I am apologize but this sounds similar to what happened to Bo Jackson and another running back not that long ago...

If you remember Bo Jackson dislocated his hip and fractured the bone that goes into his hip socket. The dislocation didn't allow the bone to get good blood flow (I am pretty sure this is what happened) which caused the bone to not heal properly. This lead to his getting a hip replacement.

I can't remember the other running back's name but he was at the all pro stuff (he was playing a flag football game on the beach) and basically did the same thing as Bo Jackson. I can't remember his name so I don't know if he was able to make a comeback or not.

Not sure if this actually applies to your friend's situation but this is the first thing that comes to mind when hearing your description.

I hope it goes well for the boy.

Same thing happen to my husbands hip. Bone dies due to lack of blood flow.

I too may be off base, I'm wondering if they said the bone had stopped growing. In a very serious growth plate injury I believe this is possible. It was the first thing they looked for on my son's MRI a couple of years ago. To see if the bone was still growing but I never heard the term dieing mentioned. I wish I could be of more help.

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I am not a doctor and I do not have answers...but I do have a story from the other side...

Friend of ours, RHP...between HS and college suffered a real drop in velocity...went to the doctor...had developed some sort of condition in the elbow where there were some issues with blood flow and bone death at the end of the bones...at doctors advice took about 4 months off from throwing, no baseball at all...symptoms lessened...and he came back strong...back to pitching in college...

Before any panic...have him go see the doctor...get a referral to a spcialist if need be...have a professional figure the thing out...chase down solutions...

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Thanks. They have an appt. with a specialist in KC. They just seem to keep bumping up against walls. Have seen a couple orthopedics here. And he's so young that I think its unusual.

I hope that this conditional gets better real soon

It is called Avascular Necrosis. Most common in the hip but can affect other bones as well.