I’m so very grateful to Dr. Corey Wulf, Brittany W., and Becky S. at TCO that I had the opportunity to participate in the DeNovo NT clinical trial. The result has been a literal God-send! Having been a serious marathoner for the past 20 years and a marathon coach for the last 6 years, I was devastated when I reached a point of knee pain that wouldn’t allow me to run a step. At the time, I was diagnosed by both TRIA and TCO with a medial chondral defect in the right knee.
I ultimately elected to have my surgery done by Dr. Wulf at TCO for several important reasons: Dr. Wulf was recommended to me by other runners and running professionals. More importantly, Dr. Wulf is also a runner and so I knew he truly understood how much it meant for me to get back to my sport. At age 50, most places would have considered it a success if I could just walk without pain, but Dr. Wulf was committed to helping me race again. And the great thing was that it was not just my goal – it was Dr. Wulf’s and his entire team’s goal as well!
My first surgery was a microfracture surgery. I elected to have this surgery because it was a shorter recovery and being fit I had a reasonable chance of it being successful. A year post I still could not run without pain and was fairly discouraged. In one of my follow up appointments as we were talking through next options, Dr. Wulf talked with me about a new type of cartilage transplant surgery that he felt I was a good candidate for and that he had had good success with it. At the time, Dr. Wulf was one of a very few orthopedic surgeons that was experienced performing this surgery. It was a long recovery (a solid year) but I followed Dr. Wulf’s protocol to the letter. Everyone I worked with at TCO and the Institute of Athletic Medicine was so encouraging and supportive through the process. Finally after reviewing my MRI one year post surgery, Dr. Wulf gave me the all-clear to begin training again on April 10th, 2015. I continued to work with PT at the IAM and joined Orange Theory Fitness in Eden Prairie in May and got stronger as the length of time I could run got longer. Then on August 1, 2015 I ran my first race – the Minnesota Half Marathon 5K. It felt so wonderful to race again! I ended up finishing 4th in my age group with an average chip pace of 8:16 min/mile! Words can’t come close to describing how great it felt to be back in the game. I owe it to Dr. Wulf and his team for working so hard to help me achieve such a great outcome after that devastating diagnosis. I am so very grateful that I was selected to participate in the clinical trial. I want to be sure others have the opportunity to benefit from this type of surgery. For me, it was a clear success. While I may not run marathons any longer, the surgery enabled me to run and race again without pain. As a runner, that is life. I’m forever grateful to Dr. Wulf and his team at TCO. THANK YOU!
