It’s hip to be healthy
Steve McKellar thought the pain in his hips probably had something to do with being a college athlete who played water polo at USC, followed by a career as a contractor.
By his late 40s, McKellar, who walked with a severe limp and suffered from constant pain, received a diagnosis of arthritis so severe he needed both hips replaced.
On Dec. 7, McKellar finally got the new hips he needed as one of the patients receiving free joint replacement surgery at Keck Hospital of USC, thanks to Operation Walk USA.
In all, Keck Hospital doctors operated on seven patients as part of Operation Walk, including McKellar, whose arthritis had changed the course of his life.
“We lost everything,” said McKellar’s wife, Vallie. The couple, both 51, recently moved in with family because Steve’s arthritis prevented him from working for the last several years. And without a job, they lost their health insurance and could not afford the $75,000 to $80,000 price tag of an out-of-pocket bilateral hip replacement.
“A lot of people don’t understand that arthritis can be completely debilitating,” said Lawrence Dorr, clinical professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Many of the Operation Walk patients could not work and have trouble sitting or driving cars because their pain is so intense.
Danny Gonzalez, another of the Operation Walk patients who received a new hip at Keck Hospital, told his daughters his arthritis made him feel like he was in prison because he was largely confined to a reclining chair. By the time he learned he needed new hips, one of his joints was already in shards, a result of degenerative bone disease.
“I would be in a wheelchair right now if it weren’t for Operation Walk,” said Gonzalez, who walked the halls of Keck Hospital just hours after his surgery. “Dr. Dorr has completely changed my life.”
Operation Walk USA was modeled after Operation Walk, a nonprofit founded by Dorr in 1995. Operation Walk has provided free joint replacement surgeries to more than 6,000 patients in the developing world.
Dorr said he realized that while they were helping people around the world, there were people in the United States who needed that kind of help just as desperately. In addition, they also receive postoperative care and physical therapy.
Keck is not the only hospital participating in Operation Walk USA. This year more than 100 surgeons signed up to participate in giving new joints to more than 200 people across the country.
Dorr said one of the reasons he and his staff devote so much time to Operation Walk is that it is so rewarding to see people get their lives back.
“These are people who have not worked have been socially isolated,” he said. “Many of them have suffered depression because of their condition. They are going to get back to their lives after today.”
Danny Gonzalez, who received hip replacement surgery at Keck Hospital of USC as part of Operation Walk USA, was a contractor until his degenerative bone disease prevented him from working. (Photo/Hope Hamashige)