"In 1997, right after graduating high school, my life (for what I thought) changed forever. I was involved in a car accident that resulted in me having very limited mobility. I exhausted the area surrounding my hometown for answers on how to fix my knee, and gave up until one of my local physicians finally told me - 'Lee Ann, I think you need to travel to Lexington and see my colleague Dr. D'Angelo.'
Finally, after spending 22 years searching for an answer, I found an amazing doctor that all but guaranteed me that after this surgery, I would be better than I was before surgery."
For the past 22 years, Lee Ann was unable to fully extend her knee, and had to walk very carefully, swinging her leg through as she had no functioning patellar tendon. As one can see from the X-Ray, her patella can be found well proximal to her knee joint. To fix this, Dr. D'Angelo was going to perform an allograft (cadaver tissue) patellar tendon reconstruction.
Surgery was performed this past summer in Lexington, and today, 4 months after surgery, Lee Ann is out of the brace, walking assistance, pain free, and is continuing to do her physical therapy twice per week. For the first time in 22 years, Lee Ann is now able to get out of a chair using her legs and her own strength without the need for assistance.
"This was all possible because of Dr. D'Angelo and the staff at Bluegrass Orthopaedics. I will always be grateful and never forget how much this has changed my life. I'm currently in physical therapy twice a week and doing things I never thought I'd do again!"
