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AllFlying |
News extra Radical
surgery holds hope for Camplin (Oct 13)
Aerial ski champion Alisa
Camplin is likely to undergo surgery in Melbourne this week, after tearing her
anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during practice in the US.
The
Olympic gold medallist has visited specialists to determine the type of surgery
she needs, in a race against time to compete in the Turin Winter Games in February.
A
radical option is to undergo a similar surgery to that of team-mate Lydia Ierodiaconou,
whereby a deceased person's Achilles tendon is used to replace the torn knee ligament.
Ierodiaconou
told the Sydney Morning Herald that Camplin still has a shot to compete
in February as long as there are no complications in the procedure.
"It's
bad timing but she still has a chance so she should take it and go 100 per cent
with it and hope that it works out," she said.
This procedure depends
on the availability of the tissue, as the donor tissue has to come from the bodies
of young fatalities.
Ierodiaconou, whose operation was 3-months ago, is yet
to return to competition.
By Sarah Carson
Sydney Morning Herald
home; Story Dead
person to help Camplin defend title (Oct 13)
Australian aerial skier
Alisa Camplin will have the tendon of a dead person grafted into her knee in a
bid to be fit for the Winter Olympic Games in February. Camplin re-tore the anterior
cruciate ligament in her right knee in a water jump accident at the Olympic Training
Centre at Lake Placid in the US last week. She was attempting a new quad twisting
double somersault, a never before performed jump.
In the radical surgery,
known as allograft donor ligament surgery, the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic gold
medallist will have a cadaver patella tendon grafted on to her knee to replace
the damaged ACL.
Julian Feller, Camplin's orthopaedic surgeon said that in
the best-case scenario “she should be able to start rehabilitation in a couple
of weeks, and then be jumping at the end of December or early January. There is
a risk involved, however, because she will be jumping before the graft is at its
full strength.”
It is the same unique technique fellow Australian Lydia
Ierodiaconou underwent in June this year, allowing her to resume training in less
than three months. But with less than four months til the Games, starting February
10 in Turin, Italy, she is expected to struggle to be anywhere near her best,
especially given she was already a long way behind her competitors, having competed
only once in 18 months. Following a break from training, Camplin first tore her
ACL on a water jump in Utah in October 2004. She made a successful comeback at
the Mt Buller World Aerials in September where she finished fourth, qualifying
her for the 2006 Australian Olympic team. The 30 year old has achieved everything
possible in skiing aerobics, including a world championship gold medal, a World
Cup grand prix title and the highest ever individual score by a female, to go
with her Olympic gold medal. While disappointed at this latest setback, Camplin
is excited this new surgery has given her the opportunity to defend her Olympic
title, saying, “I absolutely think I'm going to be at the Olympics.”
By Sally Browne
Alisa Camplin profile
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