Arterial surgery helps outdoorsman rediscover his passion
With help from a vascular surgeon, Michael Gill is back on his feet — pain free.
Michael Gill, 66, had always been an outdoorsman. But over the past few years, he couldn’t hike, hunt and fish like he used to. His left leg had weakened to the point that he developed a limp and would have to stop and rest constantly when he was on his feet.
Mr. Gill, a resident of Clearfield, Pa., thought his fatigued leg was the result of years of wear and tear. He figured he soon would need to use a walker. But the loss of function in his leg had been so gradual, he says, “you don’t realize the totality of it.”
His life wasn’t the same. “I had to give up a lot of things I enjoyed doing,” says Mr. Gill, a retired social studies teacher who coached high school wrestling for 21 years. “I assumed the reality was that my days of doing things I love were over.”
A “miracle” brought back what he lost
An orthopaedist referred him to Geisinger vascular surgeon Jeremy Irvan, MD. Dr. Irvan discovered Mr. Gill had peripheral arterial disease — a blockage in his iliac artery that restricted blood flow to his leg.
In November 2023, Mr. Gill had an outpatient procedure during which Dr. Irvan placed a stent to open up the blocked artery. Almost immediately, his leg strength returned to normal. He could go right back to his previous level of activity, with no restrictions. Just two days after his surgery, Mr. Gill hiked 1.5 miles.
"I was zooming around the woods. I hadn't been able to do that for a long time,” he says. “It brings me joy and pleasure. I'm just elated. I love the outdoors, walks in the woods, hunting deer and fishing."
Mr. Gill says his recovery was like a miracle. “Until Geisinger did the procedure, I didn’t realize what I had lost.”
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