Cole Marsala

After getting injured in a youth football game in September of 2016 at age 11, my son was told he was just bruised. Several days later when the pain persisted, he had an MRI which revealed a fractured acetabulum. We had a consult with an orthopedic doctor who frankly kept stumbling over his words because he did not know what to do. "Let's watch it," he said. After leaving his office, I pulled off the highway and called the number for HSS. Within minutes they had triaged the call, requested the images, and told me they could see him that week. They even offered me that day if we could make it there. Later that week we saw a pediatric surgeon, who told us that a trauma surgeon was a better fit. Even though Dr. Wellman was busy in surgery that day, he saw the images and we decided to return in a week for surgery. The surgery was long and scary for me as a parent, but we trusted the doctors, especially Dr. Wellman, and we knew without surgery Cole's passion for sports would be over. The surgery was a success, and after non-weight bearing for three months, Cole was able to walk around Disney World on Christmas Day. But more importantly to him, 5 months later he was back to playing box lacrosse, and snowboarding. This past summer Cole's team won the World Series of Youth Lacrosse at Mile High Stadium in Denver Colorado. Cole was an integral part of team, scoring many goals in the tournament including a hat trick in the semifinal game. The whole experience was amazing to participate in, and without his successful surgery by Dr. Wellman and HSS he would never had realized that goal, or been able to play in and experience such an awesome event! Thank you!