Arsenio has an intriging story. In 2019 when the Albany and Los Angeles chapters of Operation Walk were on their first mission to Hospital Fructuoso Rodriguez, Arcenio was admitted a few floors away. He had been in a traumatic motorcycle accident leaving him with multiple broken bones in his pelvis and both legs. He had a long and arduous recovery process, ultimately losing his left leg and requiring a prosthetic.
Dr. Eric Bassler sited this case as one of the most interesting and challenging of our mission.
“The most memoralbe surgery I was involved with was with a gentleman who was in a terrible accident some years ago. He had a left above knee amputation with no hip joint remaining on one side. On the operative side he had suffered a hip fracture that healed very poorly. He hadn’t been able to walk for over a year. We did a right total hip replacement on him and he was walking up the stairs on post-op day one for the first time in years. We could immedatily see the life changing impact this surgery had.”
Despite all he has been through, Arsenio came to us with the best attitude. As Dr. Bassler noted, the morning after his surgery, Arcenio popped up out of bed, and walked down the hall and up the stairs. His positive attitude was infectious, encouraging several other patients to get up, walk down the hall, and practice taking the stairs as well. Arsenio was discharged soon after and returned to his family, his mobility restored and the rest of his life ahead of him.
