- When Eldiara Doucette, 23, lost her arm to synovial sarcoma, she had a unique send off for her limb
- She’d bravely fought cancer three times, but when it kept returning she had no choice but to amputate her arm to save her life
- Now she’s sharing her story to help inspire other
Here she shares her story in her own words.
Content Warning: If you are struggling and need support, contact Lifeline for free 24/7 on 13 11 14 (Aus) or 0800 543 354 (NZ).
Adjusting the black veil over my eyes, I entered the funeral parlour with my boyfriend, Christopher, 22.
My friends Izzy, 22, and Sascha, 23, my sister Allison, 19, and Christopher’s mum waited outside, giving us a private moment to say our goodbyes.
‘I’m sorry this happened to us, but you served me well,’ I cried.
Lying on the table was my right arm. I’d had it amputated to save my life after battling cancer for three years.
The funeral started as a joke so I didn’t think I’d get emotional, but now I couldn’t stop my feelings from surfacing.
As my friends and loved ones trickled in
to support me, I was overwhelmed with love.
‘I’m so proud of you,’ Christopher said.
After a moment of silence for the viewing,
I shared a few favourite memories with my arm.
‘I will miss holding hands and strumming my guitar,’ I said.
While I was still adjusting to a new normal with one arm, I was excited to live my life again.
I’d been diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare and aggressive malignant soft tissue cancer, when
I was 19 in July 2021.
At first I’d thought the dull ache in my arm was from playing too many video games. But in time, the pain, which felt like electricity shooting to my fingers, would happen every minute. It took my breath away.
I went to a doctor but was quickly dismissed.
Despite living in agony, I graduated from high school and enrolled to study film at university in 2020.
But two months in, I had to drop out as the torment became unbearable.
I can’t live like this, I thought.
It got so bad I became suicidal, winding up in hospital in December 2020.
There, I made a vow to myself to get to the bottom of my pain and build a life worth living again.
READ MORE: Brave survivor: How I beat cancer three times!
I sought a second opinion from a new doctor who ordered an MRI.
Four days later I was in his office for the results.
The scan showed I had
a 5.4-centimetre, golf ball-sized tumour on the median nerve in my elbow.
‘I’m so sorry no-one
took you seriously,’ the doctor said.
I was heartbroken, but relieved to have an answer.
In July 2021 I had surgery to remove the mass. A biopsy showed it was cancer, so I underwent four weeks and 25 rounds of radiation. It was hellish, but I pushed through.
I was declared in remission, but the following year in December, the cancer came back.
Eldiara after her amputation Image Credit: Supplied
Time went by in a blur of surgeries, more radiation, hair loss, chemotherapy and pain as my aggressive cancer kept returning.
I tried my best to get on with life, re-enrolling in my studies, moving in with my bestie, Sascha, and spending time with friends.
In December 2023 I met Christopher on a dating app. Not wanting to hide my reality, I’d mentioned my diagnosis in my profile.
Damn you’re beautiful – sorry about the cancer, Christopher wrote in his first message.
He and my friends were my biggest supporters when my medical care team told me in October 2024 that I’d need to amputate my arm to stop the cancer.
How will I play guitar, games, or crochet without my dominant arm? I fretted.
Despite feeling scared,
I knew I didn’t have a choice.
It was losing my arm or losing my life.
READ MORE: Miracle mum: ‘A WATCH found my cancer’
Over the weekend I did a photoshoot memorial for my arm with my friends, where I also took thumbprints and made a plaster cast of my hand.
I was upset to lose my small wrist tattoo – three dots – and was moved to tears when Chris replicated the ink on his own wrist.
‘So you can still see it,’ he told me.
The night before, my friends all wrote farewell messages on my arm.
You’ll be both missed and unmissed, read one.
I appreciate your sacrifice, said another.
And hilariously, Thanks for all the wiping!
Five days later in October 2024, I was booked in for my above-elbow amputation.
Christopher and Sascha were by my side as I was wheeled in for the eight-hour surgery.
Doctors removed my limb and carried out targeted muscle reinnervation, where they rerouted the cut nerves back into my muscle.
I had three months of chemo post-amputation
to ensure the cancer wouldn’t return.
‘Maybe I’ll have a funeral for my arm,’
I joked to Sascha one day in January.
‘Why not? I’d come,’ she agreed.
I’d already enquired with a mortician about keeping my arm bones after the surgery as a memento, and when he mentioned the funeral idea, offering his parlour to host it, I was all for it.
In January 2025, dressed in all black, my friends and I went all out for the hour-long ‘service’.
Seeing my hand wrinkled, the nails painted black, was a surreal but cathartic experience.
Christopher filmed some videos of me with my arm, which we later uploaded to my TikTok
@semibionicbarbie, where I’d shared my cancer journey. It’s been seen over 33 million times.
Soon after the funeral, the mortician sent my bones away to be rearticulated into a skeleton model, to serve as a keepsake.
Six months on, I can cook, get dressed, shower, eat and drive a modified car with one arm.
Working as a full-time content creator, I share my cancer experience with my followers online.
I am still in remission, but I return to hospital every three months for MRI and CAT scans.
While I hope to one day get a prosthetic, I’m just grateful to be alive. Every day is a blessing.
