Assist Val in Regaining Mobility

Valerie Zimmer is a caring and intelligent woman who has experienced more than her fair share of medical issues over the last 3 years. After falling down a set of stairs in January 2022, she had surgery to repair a ruptured left quadriceps tendon. The quadriceps tendon connects the quadriceps muscles to the kneecap and is essential to walking and having control of the leg's movement and balance. Valerie experienced continued weakness in her quadriceps which led to a backwards fall when her left knee gave out. She had another surgery to repair the left quad tendon in September 2022. When that repair also did not heal right, she was on her way to get a second surgeon's opinion in February 2023 and fell down the stairs again, this time rupturing her right quadriceps tendon. She had surgery to repair the right quad tendon and when those repairs did not heal correctly, she had two more surgeries in July 2023 and June 2024. Because of the damage, Val has not been able to drive, walk up or down stairs, and do many of her normal daily activities and hobbies.

A new orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Ronak Patel believes that he will be able to permanently fix her knee tendon from a cadaver. Her tendons have become so weakened from repeated surgeries that they likely are not strong enough to do their job anymore. Dr. Ronak Patel specializes in this type of knee repair and believes that he can successfully repair Val's tendon and give her back the mobility and life that she deserves. (See links below for two of Dr. Patel's published articles on this type of surgery).

However, this surgery is very complex and her insurance will only partially cover it. We are looking for medical assistance funds to help Val pay for the surgery and other associated costs, including medical transport to appointments and accessibility improvements to her apartment. We appreciate any help you are able to give!

Ginesin, E. Z., Wojnowski, N. M., & Patel, R. M. (2020). Patellar Tendon Reconstruction for a Chronic Extensor Mechanism Deficit Using an Achilles Tendon Allograft With Hamstring Autograft and Suture Augmentation. Arthroscopy techniques, 9(4), e469–e475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eats.2019.11.020

Watson, S. L., Kingham, Y. E., & Patel, R. M. (2022). Chronic Quadriceps Tendon Ruptures: Primary Repair of Quadriceps Via Bioaugmentation and Patellar Tendon Lengthening. Arthroscopy techniques, 11(7), e1209–e1217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eats.2022.03.002