Unique orthoplastics procedure saves Ohio State coach's leg

[Music playing]

Tom Ryan: Tuesday mornings are special for me. They've been special for a long time. I get together with a group of men. 

[Text on screen: Tom Ryan
Head Coach - Wrestling
Ohio State University Athletics]

Tom Ryan: Sometimes my student-athletes are involved. We listen to some Christian jams and we work out together. I was coming down to campus, I remember singing in the car on the way down. I remember the excitement. And at about 5:50 in the morning, I hit a semi-trailer at full speed. I remember the sound of steel bending. I remember that. And that woke me up. I think that jarred me. And I do remember asking the EMTs and the emergency medical staff, "Where am I? What happened?" And they were like, "You were in a pretty bad car accident." I asked them that several times and then I remember saying, "Please don't move me. I'm in a lot of pain." And that's the last thing I remember.

The femur broke in two places. They put a rod in it. My kneecap was shattered, so they put eight or nine screws in that to rebuild it. My tibia was shattered. But then one of the bigger concerns was infection. And I had no skin on my left leg.

[Text on screen: Angela Collins, MD, PhD
Orthopedic Surgeon
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center]

Angela Collins, MD, PhD: The first day that he was in the hospital, we took him to the OR pretty quickly. We cleaned everything out. We fixed all of his fractures in his leg. And then we had involved a plastic surgery team because the soft tissue damage was pretty significant to his knee.

[Text on screen: David W. Nash, MD
Plastic Surgeon
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center]

David W. Nash, MD: The unique part about Tom's care here at Ohio State is that we have a close-knit and integrated orthoplastics program. There's very few places in the country where the orthopedic surgeons, the plastic surgeons are involved right up front. And when I say that, I mean, as soon as he got into the operating room, Dr. Collins evaluated his injury. She came into the OR, found me, and said, "Hey, I've got a patient that I think we're going to need to work together on."

Angela Collins, MD, PhD: Dr. Nash was operating just down the hall, came, took a look, and felt that all of us talking together, were sitting around, staring at his knee, felt that he'd benefit from a free flap. So where they take skin from another part of his body, cover where he has the defect, and reconnect all the blood vessels.

David W. Nash, MD: And as soon as I finished my procedure, I came over and then scrubbed into Tom's case and got to work.

Angela Collins, MD, PhD: We temporized his closure. Dr. Nash came in and did a temporary closure. And then the next day after we'd fixed all of the bony problems, Dr. Nash came in and did the free flap to give him coverage.

Tom Ryan: I had a belief system very young that I'd be able to wrestle my grandchildren. I want to be able to smoke my grandchildren when they're in high school. Not when they're grandchildren, but when they're older and tough. I want to wrestle my team of the lightweights when they're tired. I like to get them when they're small and tired. That was the dream. That's why. It's what gets you up in the morning. What is your why? And my why for taking care of myself physically was I want to live. I want to live as long and healthy as I can, but I have grandchildren that I want to help. So that's still the dream. I feel now I've come through this turbulent time of I'm not going to get better to I'm going to get better and I'm getting better fast.

And it's the first time since the surgery, it's the first time I really thought about how blessed am I, that I had a major accident and I was eight miles away from one of the best teams on the planet, people that have poured their life into helping others. Dr. Nash and Dr. Collins. That team really saved my left leg and perhaps my life.

[Text on screen: Ohio State Health & Discovery
For more information, visit: health.osu.edu]

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