one time olympic hopeful meghan kinney with a fierce determination to win. >> those qualities helped reports. ♪ >> reporter: in the sport of synchronized swimming, 21-year-old hmeghan kinney was champ. she won a spot on the u.s. national team. >> i was an athlete headed for the 2012 olympics. i had been training my whole life practically for this olympics and i was just, you know, newly fallen in love with this guy. it was just a really exciting time. ♪ >> reporter: but during a competition in spain, kinney felt a painful lump in her knee. one that would instantly end her olympic training. the diagnosis? osteocircoma who strikes 100 adults every year. >> i was shocked. things like that don't happen to young people with the world ahead of them. >> reporter: doctor reconstructed her knee with steel records and aggressive surgery that saved her leg. months of intense chemotherapy saved her life. >> the whole act of synchronized swimming prepared me for what is to come. it's tough to sit in a room for hours and hours and feel sick. i think sometimes i would think back to my ten hour days

one-time olympic hopeful meghan kinney has a fierce determination to win. >> those qualities helped her the sport of synchronized swimming, 21-year-old meghan kinney was champ. she landed herself in a spot on the u.s. national team. >> i was an athlete headed for the 2012 olympics. i had been training my whole life, practically, for this olympics and i was just, you know, newly fallen in love with this guy. it was just a really exciting time. >> reporter: but during a competition in spain, she found a painful lump in her knee. one that would end her olympic training. the diagnosis, a rare cancer that strikes just 400 young adults each year. >> i was just in shock. like, things like that don't happen to young people, you know, who have the whole word ahead of them. >> reporter: doctors reconstructed meghan's knee with steel rods, an aggressive surgery that saved her leg. >> are you doing okay? >> yeah, i feel good. >> reporter: months of intense chemotherapy saved her live. >> it mentally prepared me for what was to come. it is tough to sit in the room for hours and hours and still get s