Jack Wall of Elmhurst was a normal kid enjoying baseball, flag football and his third grade classmates at Jefferson Elementary School. A big kid for his age, he'd been experiencing 'growing pains' since kindergarten, which his pediatrician thought were also normal for a boy his age.

The pain, primarily in his shin, continued to grow worse and eventually he was taking Ibuprofen five times a day to get relief. On a recent family trip to Atlanta, Jack's parents became alarmed when he didn't want to participate in the family's activities and he had begun to limp. They knew this was no ordinary case of 'growing pains'.

Once back home, Jack's parents took him to a variety of local physicians who focused on his shin pain. He underwent many diagnostic tests, including X-rays, blood tests and an MRI of the shin (also called the tibia). The source of his pain was still undetermined.

A friend of the Walls suggested they visit Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush where they quickly got an appointment with Dr. Monica Kogan, a pediatric orthopedic specialist. She suspected the pain might be radiating from higher up in the leg and ordered an MRI of Jack's hip. There, she noticed a small mass on a bone in Jack's hip.

Dr. Kogan referred Jack to Dr. Walter Virkus, Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush orthopedic oncology specialist, who diagnosed osteoid osteoma and assured the Walls that while Jack's tumor was painful, it was benign and treatable. He performed a procedure called radio frequency ablation, a process that inserts a needle-like probe into the tumor which delivers radiofrequency waves to destroy it.

No more tumor, no more pain, no more limp.

Today, Jack has just a tiny red bump on his hip where the procedure was performed and is busy getting ready for baseball season this spring.