Whether she is out for a run, dancing or partaking in Zumba, Vanessa Prokop has always worked toward an active lifestyle. But the Florida resident’s way of life was impacted after a match of human foosball — a life-sized version of table table-top soccer — took a turn for the worst in 2019.
During the game, Vanessa’s leg had buckled as it moved laterally and paramedics were quickly called. Although her high tolerance for pain allowed her to initially walk-off the injury and sustained mobility in the days that followed with a brace, Vanessa reaggravated her knee the following weekend at her children’s marching band tournament.
“Our team won and was headed to the finals, so we were all jumping in the stands and cheering,” Vanessa said. “As we’re all getting ready to leave I stepped off on the leg that was hurt and went completely down. I hit my head, my shoulder and my leg so hard that I didn’t even know what happened.”
A MRI was necessary to confirm the diagnosis, but Vanessa’s orthopedist was sure she had torn her ACL in her left leg. Her knee had become so unstable that walking down a flight of stairs had become a terrifying task, and Vanessa opted to limit most physical activities each day. Vanessa said she knew very little about allograft donations prior to her injury, and was briefly considering an ACL reconstruction with a portion of her own patellar tendon. However, Vanessa was hesitant about a procedure that would have required a second surgery site.
Countless meetings with doctors and hours of her own treatment research were held before Vanessa ultimately found herself corresponding with MTF Biologics. “I was definitely very intrigued with MTF Biologic’s process in how they cleansed the allograft tendon and preserved it in the way it should be,” Vanessa said.
Her surgery was scheduled eight months after she sustained her injury and the recovery that followed was longer than expected, as Vanessa’s doctor discovered a bone fracture in Vanessa’s knee during surgery. The newly identified injury left her on crutches for six weeks but Vanessa’s morale throughout physical therapy did not waver. She credits her husband and two teenage daughters for helping her throughout her recovery.
Vanessa, a registered organ donor, has the utmost gratitude for the gift of life her donor ligament has returned to her, noting how she can once again enjoy normal activities like dancing with her husband and daughters again. “I don’t know if I’ll have the right words,” Vanessa said in regards to writing a letter to her donor family. “I want it to be perfect, because it’s something that’s very special.”
Vanessa believes more people should be educated on becoming a donor and the benefits behind allograft donations. “I think education is very important and it’s what people don’t always get at the doctor’s office,” she said. “People need education on it, because I was a little scared before I looked into it and read more about it."