After 45 years of running and the injuries that go with anyone’s
sport of choice, Jesús Gamboa, 64, was no stranger to pain. He
had dislocated his leg once before, even had surgery, but on a trip to
Washington, D.C. in 2014, he felt knee pain like never before.
“I woke up in the middle of the night and I just couldn’t move
anymore. I barely made it home on pure determination and guts,”
said Gamboa, who after arriving home to Visalia set out for Kaweah Delta’s
Emergency Department in search of help.
After getting help to dull the pain, Gamboa went to see his doctor, got
an MRI and met with Dr. Bruce Le, a local orthopedic surgeon, who recommended
a knee replacement.
“I knew I needed surgery. I was in excruciating pain. I couldn’t
walk and I couldn’t even sleep,” said the former city councilman
and mayor.
Since running had been hard on his body, Jesús had taken his doctor’s
advice and replaced running with cycling on a stationary bike to stay
fit. But giving up his second love of training amateur boxers was not
in the cards. Already, his knee pain was causing his boxing footwork to
suffer. “I couldn’t do lateral movement, side to side or bounce
up and down. My knee was shot. It was bone on bone,” he said.
But after knee replacement surgery at Kaweah Delta Medical Center in 2015,
nothing keeps Jesús out of the ring. “After surgery it couldn’t
be any better, it’s just business as usual,” he said. “I’m
training amateur boxers and moving around with the kids doing lateral
movements, moving forward and backward – my legs are good.”
Jesús is thankful to Dr. Le, who previously had performed successful
arm and knee surgeries on his wife, and to the nurses at Kaweah Delta
who provided him with great care.
“I never considered going anywhere else because I know we have good
doctors here,” he said. “I had an awesome experience from
Dr. Le to all the nurses at Kaweah Delta.”