“Tissue Transplant Helped Our Son Lead a Normal Life”
Like many people, the Turnbulls didn’t know about tissue donation.

That was two years ago. Now, they are among Northwest Tissue Services’s most ardent supporters. What prompted their advocacy was a painful, but ultimately rewarding experience.

It started two summers ago. Matt experienced pain in his right leg, but figured it wasn’t unusual for a 19-year-old basketball player. So he iced it and used a drugstore leg brace; he wasn’t concerned. Then one October morning, he couldn’t move the leg – and couldn’t stand the pain.

Arthroscopic surgery revealed something his doctor had never seen: osteochondritis dissecans, a genetic defect resulting in cartilage detaching from the round end of the femur under the kneecap. While doctors looked for a solution, Matt looked for relief.
“There was emotional pain as well as physical pain,” he says. Crutches and braces didn’t work; his endurance and spirits sagged. And amputation was mentioned.

After seven months, he found someone with an answer: James Bruckner, MD, and associate medical director at Northwest Tissue Services. “He said he could do a tissue transplant, which we’d never heard of,” recalls Matt’s mother, Joanne.

“Matt’s defect would result in a destroyed knee if allowed to persist,” said Dr. Bruckner. He showed x-rays to the Turnbulls and said he could do a bone and cartilage transplant; he’s one of the few surgeons who can. “Matt was in so much pain,” said Joanne. “We knew it was our only hope.”

So Matt’s name entered a transplant list and in three months, a donor, who had died of sudden trauma, was found. The donated knee was a good fit and the surgery was a success. “After the procedure, I felt instantly better,” said Matt.

After a yearlong rehabilitation, Matt threw away the brace. “I’m so thankful that I’m able to walk…that I’m able to have my life back,” he says. And for those who helped him get there: the donor family, Dr. Bruckner, the Tissue Center, the physical therapist, and the Turnbull family, Matt offers his gratitude. “‘Thank you’ is the easiest thing I can say… but it’s more emotional than words for me.”

“It’s like he’s been reborn,” says his mother. “It’s really a miracle.”