A year and a day ago, i stood up taller, walked without any pain, and experienced the goodness of people, thanks HEALTHBASE, you guys all rock!

Thanks for your kind note, Walt. It was a pleasure to assist you. Healthbase team wishes you a happy and healthy life!

Here is Walt's story:
I have always had trouble with my hips. I broke & dislocated my left hip at age 13. That means I have had only about 11 years of my life with good working legs. I had surgery back then on my left hip, with traction, 4 stainless steel pins and a body cast from my ankle covering my left leg up to my navel for 6 weeks. Following the healing of my left leg, my right hip gave out at age 15, trying to do the weight bearing for both hips. This included another surgery, with the traction and pins again on my right hip, but no body cast this time. Just crutches for most of my adolescent years. I managed to heal, but with a limp. I never let this stop me trying to live a normal life.

20 years of living, cooking, skateboarding, biking, running, walking, snowboarding and surfing later, my hips began to ache again. The thought of having to go thru all the doctor visits, hospitals and surgeries again as an adult now, made me sick to think of it. So I didn't, i went on trying to live a functional life as possible. In 2006, my hip became so bad it began to affect everyday things, working, walking and providing for myself. I would work jobs only long enough to pay rent for a month at a time, then i would quit, only to take a rest and be off of my feet. In 2007 I went from being an average athlete, working chef,  & kiting a few times a week,to being handicapped and barely able to walk more than a city block. I then realized i could not fix this on my own. I researched everything i could to find an alternative to surgery, i tried more exercises, yoga, looked into Prolotherapy, none of these treatments would take away my pain. So my hips basically, cost me my job, which lead to losing my home and moving back to PA to rely on family for help and support. They are great, we are not the wealthiest family, but they have been generous in thier love and concern.

In Pennsylvania, I have seen three Orthopedic specialists, showed them my Xrays and told my story. All three were hesitant in treating me because of my young age. They wanted to perform a THR Total Hip Replacement , this means they want to cut off about 4 inches of my femor head, then hollow out the femor bone itself and stick an implant into it. The problem here is that a THR only last 12-15 years. All three Orthopedic surgeons talked about my "second" surgery or the" revision surgery", before i ever received the first one! Meaning they would go back into my thigh, remove the old implant, cleanse out the femor neck, drill it deeper than the first time, and stick and even longer implant into me, and wish me luck for another 10-12 years.

I am only 44 years old, too young for this procedure.  I WILL outgrown the implant and need a revision operation within a decade or so. Finding this unacceptable, i researched " Hip Resurfacing " a procedure that leave the femoral bone intact, and only "resurfaces" the osteo-arthritis off of the bone, Preserving the majority of my femor head, which is critical in case a THR is needed later in life.The resurfaced femor is fitted with a Titanium Ball, which swivels about in a Titanium Cup. Allowing greater (ROM) Range of Motion, bone growth, and more natural stance and gait (walking). I have found a doctor with help of Healhbase who has seen my Xrays, and feels very confident that he could perform a successful HR hip resurfacing procedure. Healthbase assisted in all the steps from securely transferring medical records, appointment scheduling and travel arrangements.

Walt's detailed experience at: https://www.healthbase.com/hb/pages/helping-hands.jsp