Michael Birnholz, Right Knee MACI Surgery Testimonial

My name is Michael Birnholz and I am a Rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom in Vero Beach, Florida. And I’ve lived in Vero Beach for 16 years. This injury that I had with my knee, I really ran into it a little over two years ago. I’m trying, trying to be active and trying to keep fit. And so I have a son who is now 12 but he was 10 and so I was playing in the yard with him and getting him ready for soccer. And so we would kick the soccer ball around and I tweaked my knee a couple of times and kept getting a little bit better and then I’d get a little bit worse. And finally, it was getting a little bit better and I went to have that final soccer practice with my son and it was really exciting because it was a father-son practice and I was really hoping for the chance to get onto the field and run around with him. And I did and I was victorious. I scored two goals. It was the only two goals I’ve ever scored in rec soccer against a bunch of 11-year-olds. But I noticed that even wearing a brace my knee was in quite a bit of pain. And started to swell up and I was having all kinds of problems with it felt like it was popping and going out of joint. It was really hard even just to walk the dogs around the neighborhood. Certainly not getting to play with my children or just enjoying life in Vero Beach or was making really hard to move around the synagogue. While I was waiting for that surgery and I was having trouble getting all of the arrangements in Vero Beach and I was talking to my parents who live here in Tampa and they found out about Dr. Gasser at the Florida Orthopaedic Institute.

So Michael was a good candidate for Maci because he’s a relatively young active patient that had an isolated full-thickness defect of the cartilage and had symptoms that were worsening and not improving with conservative treatment. And they said, Michael Vick, here’s a doctor that only does knee surgery. He’s A top-notch doctor. And at Florida Orthopaedic Institute they have the doctor for every joint. This is where we think he should have the surgery. And as we looked into it more and we did more research, we realized it was really a great choice for me because I was able to come and do the surgery at Florida Orthopaedic Institute and they were absolutely wonderful. But other than able to stay with my parents for the recovery afterward, if anybody is watching this, that’s thinking about has had to deal with different kinds of orthopedic issues, I would strongly recommend Florida Orthopaedic Institute. They’ve taken good care of me. They’ve taken care of other members of my family, and to have the level of care to have the reassurance that I’ve gotten all through it, to come to Florida Orthopaedic Institute, even though I’m on the East coast of Florida, that’s been very much worth it.