Alec Talarico

My name is Alec Talarico and I am currently a student athlete where I play Division 1 lacrosse. I suffered a season ending injury that occurred just a few weeks before the start of my senior high school season. I was voted team captain of my varsity lacrosse team going into my senior year and the entire year all I looked forward to was leading my teammates to a state championship. Unfortunately for me I severely tore my lateral meniscus in my right knee during a captains practice just a few weeks before the start of the lacrosse season. As you can imagine this was a devastating event for me and my family. When I first suffered the injury I was unaware of what exactly I had done to my knee so I was scheduled for an MRI at HSS. Luckily for me this is where I came in contact with Dr. McCarthy. After reviewing the MRI Dr. McCarthy told me that the next step in order for me to get back on my feet would be to have reconstructive surgery on my meniscus and that she would be the one performing the surgery.

The surgery turned out to be very successful and I began rehabbing my knee a few weeks later. During the rehab process Dr. McCarthy was always there for me when I had questions about my progress. Whenever I had a question regarding the state of my knee Dr. McCarthy would always be there to respond with some advice on what I should and shouldn't be doing. This was extremely helpful for me because at the time all I wanted to do was work as hard as I could to get back on my feet and at times I would get ahead of myself. Along with my physical therapist, Dr. McCarthy was constantly keeping me on the correct path to move forward while making sure I did not do too much and set my self back.

At the beginning of the rehab process the exercises were often very tedious and boring but I knew they needed to be completed in order to get better. As time went on the rehab began to pick up and include more intense exercises which I enjoyed. Coming off the surgery I was on crutches and had a strap on brace around my knee, this was the worst part about the injury. But as rehab picked up I was able to get off crutches and loosen up the brace and move around more. The day I got off crutches was one of best days of my recovery process and I remember going to practice with my crutches in the air walking towards my teammates. After getting off crutches the rehab continued on with very little bumps in the road and I continued to work throughout the summer.

Coming off the summer I went on to be play college lacrosse. In the beginning of the year I wasn't cleared to play so everyday I watched practice ambitious to get back on the field. I continued rehab at Bucknell and after a few short weeks I was cleared to run full speed. By the time I was cleared we had finished fall practices and began conditioning as a team, something I would finally be allowed to do. At first our conditioning coach had me running with the other guys that were also coming off injuries and my knee was feeling great and even more so I was feeling great. About half way through the conditioning I was feeling so good that I had asked my coach if it was alright to run with the rest of the team and she said if I felt up to it. Not sure of what was going to happen, I lined up with the rest of the team and awaited the countdown to begin the 400 yard sprint. I started off in the middle of the group and then one by one I ran by everyone until I was only a few steps away from the fastest guy on our team. I finished in second and although I was tired, I couldn't help but smile. The following days of condition were similar and I continued to be at the front of the group. Having come off such a long recovery period I couldn't have been happier to be able to participate and compete with the rest of the team.

I am now fully cleared and have been practicing with the team regularly. My knee is feeling better than ever and I still keep in touch with Dr. McCarthy whenever I have questions. I feel truly blessed to have received such great care from Dr. McCarthy and HSS.