David Jones

I have served on my local St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital Board (Ascension Health) for over twenty-five (25) years. My wife and I have been serious runners for over thirty five (35) years. I have been ultra running since the early 1980's. I have been nationally ranked in the marathon and set an American record in 2003 (age group 50 and over) for running the fastest 100 miler on the road by any American over age fifty (50). I have logged more than 90,000 miles running over the years and have been very fortunate to remain healthy. My motivation for emailing this correspondence to your attention is to give recognition to the staff at HSS and more importantly the excellent work that Dr. Su in doing in the area of hip resurfacing. I started have hip issues while training in 2012. The issue continued to worsen, but I continued to run thinking, like most of us runners, I can run though this issue. Needless to say, after about two years I was bone on bone and the quality of my running and ever day life was being effected. I was very familiar with our local ortho doctors, due to being on the hospital board. I certainly felt some obligation to talk to our doctors before getting other opinions. My local doctors (two opinions) just told me the left hip needed to be replaced. They said when the pain got bad enough and I was ready to stop running to come see them and they would replace my hip and resolve my problem. This is when I started researching and found HSS and Dr. Su. I hit it off with Dr. Su immediately. He was extremely positive and stated I needed to resurface my hip. Dr. Su described the reason I should resurfacing vs. replacement. His advise was taken and he resurfaced my left hip at your great facility on May 14th, 2015. Having knowledge of the healthcare setting and operations, I was greatly impressed with your procedures. Your protocol to prevent infection was quite impressive. I guess that is way you are #1 in the USA in that category. At any rate, my surgery went great and Dr. Su did a fantastic job restoring my left hip. Again, the surgery was on May 14th, 2015 . I walked 10 miles the first week after surgery and averaged 45 to 50 miles a week until seeing Dr. Su for my follow up in July. I did my own rehab in my weight room at home. Dr. Su showed me what I need to do and I did ( and continue to do) my rehab religiously. Dr. Su let me start back running very easy and slow on soft surfaces on September 14th, 2015. I ran my first marathon 88 day later at the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Alabama. I ran a time of 3 hrs. 36 mins, due to not having trained. I usually run around 3 hrs. Just 3 weeks later on January 3rd, 2016 I ran my first 100 miler. I know what your thinking....I am going to mess up all the good work Dr. Su did on the old hip. Actually, it seems the more activity I do the better the hip performs. I am very in tune with my body having ran for so many miles and for so many years, I continue to monitor my body and my hip during these running events.

I just wanted to give an update, as to my recovery process, eighteen months post op after left hip resurfacing by Dr. Edwin Su. I am a 65 year old Ultra runner from Tennessee and have been running for over 35 years. I had my surgery on May 14th, 2015 and Dr. Su told me not to run for four (4) months, which would be September 14th, 2016. I walked and did my rehab exercises as instructed by Dr. Su. I walked 406 miles during my four (4) month rehab. I started back running easy on soft surfaces on September 14th, 2016. I ran an easy marathon 87 days later in a time of 3 hrs. 36 mins and qualified for Boston in my age group. This on very little training. My previous marathons were always between 2hrs. 52 mins and 3 hrs. 16 mins, so I still have a ways to go. At any rate, I ran an easy 100 miler 3 weeks after the marathon in a time of 20hrs and 52 mins with no hip issues. Again, I am running very easy and listening to my body. I ran a 41.2 miler in May, which was my 28th year in a row to run this event, so the hip surgery did not make me end my streak. I then ran Badwater 135 in July, which is supposed to be the world’s toughest foot race, a race I have done 8 times. Again, no hip issues, but running conservative. I decided November 12th, 2016 to try and break the 100 mile American record for the fastest 100 miler by an American age 65 and over. I had set the American record in 2003 for the fastest 100 miler for age group 50 and over and thought the age 65 record was attainable, if the hip would let me train, and everything came together on race day. In summary, I ran the Tunnel Hill 100 miler in Vienna, Ill. on November 12th and 13th and finished in a time of 17hrs. 34 mins 29 secs., breaking the old record of 19 hrs. 46 mins by over 2 hrs. and just missing the World record by 26 mins. I am in the process of getting the time confirmed as the fastest 100 miler ran by any American age of 65 and over. The statistic I am most proud of, as far as Tunnel Hill 100, is I finished 7th overall among all age groups! I share my story for the sole purpose of giving hope to those of you who may be suffering with hip issues. We have a great resource in HSS and they have many excellent surgeons who can get you back in the game. I serve on the Trustee Board of my local hospital, but we had no surgeons performing this great bone preservation surgery. When I did my research concerning hip resurfacing, it brought me to Dr. Edwin Su and HSS. It has been the best decision I have ever made concerning my healthcare. Dr. Edwin Su rocks!!!