"Pizza, french fry" — and a stick figure skiing down his scar.

Watch Joseph's story

In Joseph's words

From his first time on skis — to fully back to normal.

My name is Joe. I'm 19. I'm a college student — I go upstate to Binghamton, I'm a neuroscience student. I really have a passion for healthcare so far.

So my injury happened because I went skiing for the first time, and my friends who are really good skiers told me I could learn on the way down. They taught me "pizza, french fry." I was like, "Yeah, I could do that." I could not do that. And I fell down a bunch of times, and it was all fun, it was all fine. And the last time I fell, I could feel that my knee had done something. I felt a pop and a shift, and I fell, and I tried getting back up and I could not put weight on it.

So I brought Dr. Strickland my scans after my mom had done some research and found her. I first met Joseph about a year and a half ago, and he had somewhat of an unusual story. First of all, instead of tearing his ACL skiing, he dislocated his patella. But the way Joseph was born and the way he grew, his patella was high — so we had patella alta. But he also was laterally translated, so his patella was essentially sitting perched. It wanted to slip out. And after that first-time patellar dislocation when he tore his MPFL, it really was a losing situation. He just couldn't keep it in the groove. We did both the tibial tubercle osteotomy as well as an MPFL.

When the time came around, I was really ready to have the surgery. I wanted my knee fixed. I think the most important thing that Dr. Strickland's team did was they were very open to questions. Initially I was told that I would not be able to walk for six weeks — I would be in a brace, laying in bed — which was a bummer because it was the start of my summer. She got me involved in physical therapy pretty much as soon as my swelling had gone down and I could actually tolerate it. Dr. Strickland did a great job, and I think by the six-week mark I was actually ahead and walking with my brace on, which was really a big move for me.

“I can do whatever I want with my knee. It's fully back to normal. I can hike, I can jump, I can do whatever I want — and I don't have to worry about my knee giving out.” — Joseph

Overall, it's all I could ask for, and everyone was very nice, very supportive — a very good experience for me. I can do whatever I want with my knee. It's fully back to normal. I can hike, I can jump, I can do whatever I want, and I don't really have to worry about my knee giving out — which is a big change from what I had before.

Kind of from the moment I had my injury, I was like, I could turn this into something good. And I immediately knew that I kind of wanted a tattoo of a little stick figure skiing down my scar from the surgery. My mom is not on board, but after six weeks of me laying in bed, I think I got the guilt trip from her, so as soon as I had my screws removed and Dr. Strickland gave me the okay — Dr. Strickland actually supported the idea. She gave me a little giggle when I told her about it. But yeah, I got a tattoo of a stick figure skiing down my scar.