This teenage ballerina’s post-cancer comeback is so inspiring

When you’re an athlete, injuries can threaten to be the end of your career. And when you’re a dancer, losing a leg seems like the ultimate injury.

But after surviving osteosarcoma, 15-year-old Gabi Shull wasn’t about to let anything stop her.

After being diagnosed with the bone cancer in her knee at the age of nine, Gabi learned that she’d need to go undergo an amputation, but she just wasn’t ready to give up on her dream, says Seventeen.

Instead of a simple amputation, surgeons performed a super-rare procedure called a rotationplasty.

Gabi’s foot and part of her calf were saved — and then reattached to her thigh, but backwards. It sounds like something out of science fiction, but in reality it allowed Gabi’s ankle to function and bend as a knee-joint would. With the help of a prosthetic, this teen is back to pliéing and jetéing as normal — she even has a second prosthetic for dancing en pointe!

"It’s a unique surgery," Gabi told People when she spoke with them back in March. "[It's] not for everybody, but it was worth it for me."

And she’s not just a ballerina. She also dances jazz, hip-hop, lyric and contemporary.

"This is everything she would have done if she had not had cancer. She's just living her life as if this didn't happen," Gabi's mom Debbie shared with Seventeen.

Want to see for yourself? Check out this incredible video from PopSugar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caGe8kLVwWk?feature=oembed

Gabi’s not just a dancer, though. She’s also a national spokesperson for TheTruth365, a documentary project aiming to give kids with cancer a voice, and a true inspiration to dancers everywhere.