"I would rather have my leg cut off than deal with this pain" — to a completely stable knee.

Watch Denise's story

In Denise's words

From "snap, crackle, pop" on the mountain — to walking 20 steps brace-free.

I'm flying down the mountain at Killington, going at speed of light as far as I can see, and I hit a patch of ice and I heard a racket. It sounded like snap, crackle, pop. And it was at that point I realized that something significant had happened.

When Denise first came to see me, I think she would agree with me that she was quite miserable. She'd had a ski accident, she had not exactly torn her ACL, she pulled her ACL off her shin bone. When an outside doctor tried to fix it, he tried to sew that ACL back down — and one of the complications with that often is that the knee can get really stiff.

I was incredibly uncomfortable. And I had told my doctor — or my physical therapist at the time — I would rather have my leg cut off than deal with this pain. And that's when she said, "You need a second opinion. Something's wrong."

“I went from looking at a very sad face to a really hopeful face.” — Dr. Strickland, on Denise's recovery

So I started out by just removing the scar tissue, taking out the ACL that had not healed, and getting her range of motion back. And that process was, I think, good from the very beginning. I mean, she felt so much better even a week after surgery. And I went from looking at a very sad face to a really hopeful face.

And when I finally took the brace off, I walked 20 steps and I was like, "I could do this." And I'm happy to say that she has a completely stable knee, she's got excellent range of motion, she smiles every time I see her. And, you know, I think it's amazing to be able to do this for a patient who essentially had given up hope.

The entire experience has just been pristine from the very beginning, and I highly recommend her office, HSS.