This was exciting, I decided that I had nothing to lose. If this didn't work out well, it still wouldn't change the fact that I would need a knee replacement. The Stem Cells were my own, harvesting was pretty painless and I just had to be patient and prepare myself for the intensive physiotherapy session required after the surgery

Joanna had a knee problem for 18 years. It all started with her having repetitive dislocation of her knee cap while doing athletics in school. She had surgeries done to correct them but it wasn't completely successful. The dislocation stopped, but she developed arthritis in the joints. Gradually, she had to give up sports over the years, starting with athletics, then her team sports and eventually running altogether. In total, Joanna had seven previous surgeries to her left knee over the years. Most of them were to remove osteophytes that had broken off and became lodged in her knee joint.

Joanna was told that there was no treatment that can be done and eventually she would need either a partial or total knee replacement. Besides that, she started having backache 3 years ago and her knee wouldn't straighten properly. Doctors told her that the backache was caused by her knee injuries and the only option was to have a knee replacement done.

As Joanna was just 34 years old at that time, she didn't feel that it was a good option. She was then recommended by a friend to seek a second opinion from Dr Saw Khay Yong. Joanna made an appointment for consultation, expecting to be told the same thing but was impressed when Dr Saw told her about the research he was doing with stem cells. Dr Saw explained that he had discovered a way to grow new cartilages. She exclaimed “This was exciting, I decided that I had nothing to lose. If this didn't work out well, it still wouldn't change the fact that I would need a knee replacement. The Stem Cells were my own, harvesting was pretty painless and I just had to be patient and prepare myself for the intensive physiotherapy session required after the surgery”.

The surgery was done in May 2007. After a year later, Joanna had a new lease of life. She had new cartilage linings on her joint with improved flexion and extension. Dr Saw believes that there will be further improvement over the next 6 - 9 months. Joanna knew for sure that her life would continue in a completely different direction if she had chosen to do a knee replacement instead as her movements would have been limited. Her future looks a little more exciting now as she can do more things with her kids compared to the time before her surgery with stem-cells therapy. Evidently, she has started jogging or “shuffling” for the first time after 7 years.