Elisa Medalie: As spring time stroll with her grand daughter is a simple pleasure Janis Taylor never takes for granted.
Janis Taylor: It feels very liberating.
Elisa Medalie: A fall that lead to a broken ankle more than 14 years ago was the beginning of a painful journey.
Janis Taylor: My foot ended up on my knee and about bones in the bottom of my leg.
Elisa Medalie: Two ankle replacements failed. She was confined to a wheel chair.
Janis Taylor: My freedom was at stake.
Elisa Medalie: That’s when she turned to Dr. Mark Myerson, a foot and ankle reconstruction expert who has helped many professional athletes get back into form. He creates customized ankle replacement for his patients.
Dr. Mark Myerson: Can you stand 15 minutes out of the hour on your foot?
Elisa Medalie: Traditional replacements are smaller and depend on support from the ankle. The problem, sometimes the bone shatters under the pressure. Dr. Myerson’s design extends deep into the heel bone stabilizing the foot and preventing collapse.
Dr. Mark Myerson: We can build this up into any custom devise we want and now salvage the ankles that previously none correctible at all.
Elisa Medalie: Before finding Dr. Myerson, Janis’s options where either amputation or ankle fusion where plates and screws fuse the bones together. It relieves pain but leaves the joint stiff, limits movement and would have shortened Janis’s leg by an inch and half. With the customized replacement her ankle is flexible and she only left a quarter inch of height.
Dr. Mark Myerson: For you to have this kind of movement here, it’s wonderful.
Elisa Medalie: A grand mother who once feared she’s spent retirement sitting down.
Janis Taylor: For a while I didn’t think I get to this point now. I always prayed I would.
Elisa Medalie: And now approaches life one step at a time. I’m Elisa Medalie.
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