Paula Ryder, Tissue Recipient
Four years ago, I was an unfortunate victim of a terrible accident in which a horse threw me, then lost his balance and fell on top of me, crushing my pelvis. I required massive surgery to repair my acetabulum, the pelvic portion of the hip joint. Lucky to be alive, I was given a 25 percent chance of ever walking again. I am a radio logic technologist (x-ray) and had taught clinical radiology at the local junior college for 11 years, so I was well aware of the severity of my injury. My orthopedic surgeon explained the surgery would require a bone graft-some of my own bone would be removed from my femur, mixed with donated cadaver bone and ground into a cement-type substance to help bind the bone together with the 10 metal plates he had to use to piece my pelvis together.
The portion of my femur he removed was replaced with Pacific Ocean coral, it being the same trabecular consistency of human bone. (Bone tissue is scarce!)
After a grueling 10 and ½ hour surgery, a month in USA Medical Center in Mobile, AL, another month at North West Florida Rehabilitation Center and six months of physical therapy, I learned to walk again. My surgeon predicted that I would require a total hip replacement within one year of the original surgery, but thanks to his expertise, the prayers of hundreds, the wonder of tissue replacement and a lot of work on my part, I am still walking and have relatively little pain considering the severity of the injury.
Although the accident and its resulting implications have had a tremendous impact on literally every aspect of my life, I can testify that without the tissue donation, I would no doubt be in a wheelchair today. Needless to say, my quality of life has vastly improved by the gracious gift of tissue donation. The accident placed an unexpected fork in the road, but my medical procedures allowed me to walk down that path instead of be rolled.
Read more of the stories of some individuals who have been touched by donation.
Christa Chappel | Dale Hiedeman | Georgia Poplawski | Paula Ryder | Cole Diepersloot
