It wasn’t until after her left leg was amputated that she considered herself a runner.

Now, two years later, Daphne Hegreness wants to compete in the 2012 Paralympics in London.

Hegreness, 23, of Columbus, will have to cut 2.6 seconds from her time in the 100-meter dash in order to qualify. But the challenge doesn’t seem to faze her. She is used to challenges by now.

After battling a painful cancer for four years, Hegreness’ left leg was amputated below the knee in January 2008. She was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer. She spent the following nine months in physical therapy in Maine, she said.

In February 2009, her husband, Jeff Hegreness, taught her how to run on her prosthetic leg in the living room of their apartment. As an Ohio State graduate student in physical therapy, he was assigned to a clinical group of amputees and used what he learned to help his wife. Teaching her to run was something her therapists in Maine hadn’t been able to do.

“Everyone says that we’re a perfect match because I’m the amputee and he’s the physical therapist,” Hegreness said.

She said that since her brain could no longer tell her leg what to do, re-learning how to run was in part learning to trust her prosthetic leg, which Jeff noted is often extremely difficult for amputees.

The couple said that in the first year after Daphne’s surgery, they participated in a number of physically challenging activities, including wakeboarding, rock climbing, hiking, skiing and running. She said she stuck with running because she didn’t want her prosthetic leg to stop her.

“I didn’t want my disability to become a disability,” she said. “I wanted to run.”

A chance encounter Hegreness had touring the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., while on vacation with her husband led her to seriously consider competing in the Paralympics. She said she noticed a man in a suit staring at her leg, which isn’t uncommon, so she ignored it. But the man then approached her and started a conversation about the Paralympics. He later set up a meeting with head track and field coach Cathy Sellers.

As she prepares for London, Hegreness faces a major obstacle. The reason she hasn’t qualified for the 100-meter dash might have to do with her prosthetic leg. It isn’t designed for running, she said. She does run on it, but it’s not made to withstand the impact of running.

She and her coaches want her to have a Cheetah Flex Foot®, a carbon-fiber prosthesis specifically designed for sprints. Her coaches believe that with the leg, she can run a qualifying time.

Unfortunately, the prosthesis costs around $14,000, and Jeff’s student health insurance won’t cover the cost or maintenance of the leg.

Members of the Sarcoma Support Group at OSU’s James Cancer Hospital have stepped in to help. Group members have begun fundraising efforts, including a benefit last Saturday night at Wild Goose Creative, an event hosted by a local arts organization. Jenny Jauch, a member of the support group, has made it her mission to get Hegreness a new leg. With it, the group hopes, will come greater awareness of sarcoma, a general cancer, and how different each form can be.

Jauch, a sarcoma survivor of four years, said that Hegreness’ relationship with the Sarcoma Support Group is mutually beneficial.

Jauch said that as Hegreness gets more recognition for her Paralympics goal, she is able to provide a public face for the group.

Awareness has been a challenge for sarcoma groups because it’s so rare, she said.

Sarcoma makes up less than half of one percent of all cancers, said Martha Crist, former Sarcoma Support Group facilitator. She said that it often gets misdiagnosed as a result of its obscurity.

Crist started the group as a clinical nurse working with Dr. Joel Mayerson, chief of orthopedic oncology at the James Cancer Hospital. Mayerson is Hegreness’ doctor and one of only 100 sarcoma specialists in the U.S., Crist said.

Hegreness has been cancer-free for two years, and though she has a 50 percent chance of recurrence, she is one of the lucky ones. Others’ recurrence rates are often higher. Jauch said the Sarcoma Support Group lost six of its first nine members.

Toni Spangler, another Sarcoma Support Group member, said she has been given a one percent chance of survival this year. But that didn’t stop her from purchasing a water leg so she can swim with her stepdaughter. Spangler was perhaps the most vivacious attendee Saturday. Hegreness said that’s just Spangler’s demeanor.

Hegreness said her experience with the Sarcoma Support Group has been amazing. She said everyone in the group, which includes survivors, their family members and even family members of those who have passed, are all advocates for one other.

“I don’t think many of us have let our disease or complications from it get us down. I think we’re all determined people,” Hegreness said.

As the 2012 Paralympics approach, Hegreness is uncertain whether she will get the prosthesis she needs. Regardless, adversity has never stopped her in the past.

“I don’t consider myself disabled,” Hegreness said. “I consider myself adaptable. I can find a way to make it work.”