Tisdale has lower part of right leg amputated<br/><span class='hl2'>Surgery expected to rid ex-Sooner of cancer</span>

Wayman Tisdale's lengthy battle with cancer has taken another turn.

The Oklahoma basketball legend had the lower part of his right leg amputated Monday.

Wayman Tisdale was diagnosed with cancer last year in his right knee when he broke his leg in a fall at his Los Angeles home. associated press

Diagnosed early last year with cancer, he has been fighting it for the past 18 months. The surgery to remove the lower part of his leg is expected to eradicate the disease.

"I have complete faith that, with the Lord's blessings, this surgery will eliminate the cancer from my body,” Tisdale said in a statement.

In February 2007, Tisdale suffered a broken right leg when he fell down a flight of stairs at his Los Angeles home. While examining that injury, doctors discovered a cancerous cyst just below his knee.

After more than a month of inconclusive biopsies, tests finally determined the mass was malignant. Tisdale was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, the most common type of malignant bone cancer.

Tisdale had the cyst removed, had knee replacement surgery, then began chemotherapy.

"The hardest thing for me ... was when the doctor told me that I was going to have to take it easy for a while,” Tisdale said in an interview earlier this year. "I was like, ‘I don't know how to take it easy.' ”

Tisdale rose to stardom at Tulsa Washington High School, then became a three-time All-American at Oklahoma.

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