[Sounds of nature]

[Text on screen: Mary Applegate
Patient]

Mary Applegate:
I've always loved endurance exercise. I started cycling because it takes you outside. I used to think it was the exercise that I really liked, but actually it's being outside. I just really get to be joyful and then come back to the stress of regular life. 

[Music playing]

Mary Applegate:
November of 2024, I was riding my bike and that was the day I was hit by a truck going 55 miles an hour on a country road. So my life totally changed just in a nanosecond.

Speaker 2:
You hang in there.

Speaker 3:
It's got to be tight, huh?

Speaker 2:
I know it. I know it. That's good. There you go.

Mary Applegate:
The third car on the scene was a wildlife officer and he had a tourniquet and that's actually how I did not bleed to death on the spot. My helmet saved my head. And as soon as the squad got there, they called for the helicopter, which also saved me because another 10 minutes may have made a really, really big difference. So they flew me to a trauma center and they stabilized me, and I knew it was really, really serious. They did initial surgery, but the next day I realized that I really wanted to come back to OSU to see if they could save my leg instead of having it be amputated.

[Text on screen: Jason Souza, MD
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center]

Jason Souza, MD:
Mary had experienced a significant trauma. Essentially all of the soft tissues, or at least the skin and fat of the leg was degloved, so essentially stripped off from the knee down. First step is to essentially remove anything that's not going to survive so you have an understanding of what the problem is and how big of a problem it is. It became apparent pretty early on in her course that part of her bone was exposed. And then the other challenge is that she had an implant in her knee. So she had had a total joint replacement. And the concern there is if that gets exposed, that becomes a limb threatening injury. That's where we shifted gears and went from what is a surgically very easy, straightforward procedure, skin grafting, to a microvascular reconstruction of the soft tissues around her knee.

Mary Applegate:
Dr. Souza was a breath of fresh air. I think we shared the same level of energy and optimism for the future. So I definitely felt like I had a voice. And in the different hospitals, all of the personnel prioritized helping people help themselves. It wasn't just, "Let's do a procedure." It was, "Well, let's understand where she's coming from and what the goals are."

Jason Souza, MD:
The team approach to care is absolutely critical when you're dealing with more complex problems, because the reality is that it's rare or somewhat unusual that one person or one type of surgeon or physician has all of the tools and all of the answers. One of the kind of unique parts of Mary's story is that it didn't end once we had achieved wound closure. And one of the problems that she was having long-term was swelling in her foot, pain in her foot. And that's when we brought Dr. Sorkin in. So Dr. Sorkin has a specific expertise in lymphatic surgery. Essentially helping deal with that swelling that was driving the pain and driving that discomfort. And that was beyond my capability.

[Text on screen: Michael Sorkin, MD:
Plastic Surgeon
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center]

Michael Sorkin, MD:
Our approach here at Ohio State is a holistic approach where we truly try to not only restore a patient's limb, but also restore a patient's quality of life, so that they can get back to their either hobbies or activities or work that they have been previously doing. Mary's goal from the very start, right after her injury, was to get back to herself. To get back to the activities that she always has been doing and she always wanted to do. And that was my goal in the surgeries that I performed for her.

Mary Applegate:
I love my leg. I love my leg. It's gnarly, but beautiful, but I can bend it. I worked really hard in physical therapy to try to get my knee to bend enough to be able to ride a bicycle, which people thought I had a screw loose. Like why would I ever get back on a bicycle after something like this? And my thought was things happen to people, but I think I make decisions based on hope for the future and not fear of the past. And there's a lot of wonderful life left.

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center]

[Music fades]