Bradshaw Sings UAMS Praises After Knee Replacement
| Feb. 3, 2016 | Terry Bradshaw is one satisfied customer.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback praised the excellent care he received at UAMS in December when Lowry Barnes, M.D., performed a total knee replacement on his right knee.
Bradshaw told the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees during its Jan. 27 meeting on the UAMS campus that before the surgery he was in “100 percent acute pain.”
Lowry Barnes, M.D., chats with Terry Bradshaw before a UA Board of Trustees meeting on the UAMS campus.
“For the last 3-4 years, I’ve had chronic knee pain in my right knee,” the sports commentator said. “It got to the point where I could barely walk. It started affecting other parts, my back primarily, and I knew I had to do something.”
He said he came to Barnes and UAMS on the recommendation of James Andrews, M.D., the medical director of the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Florida, one of the founding members of the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Alabama, and an adjunct professor at UAMS.
Bradshaw said he met with Barnes and his family for dinner on a Monday, had the surgery on Tuesday and flew back to Los Angeles on Friday, where he threw a party for Fox employees. On Sunday, he was back on air for the Fox NFL Sunday program.
Barnes, chairman of the UAMS Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, told the board of trustees that Bradshaw’s post-op schedule shows just how tough he is.
“Nobody flies across the country three days after total knee replacement and hosts a party for 120 people. Nobody does that. Then he goes on the air a couple of days later,” Barnes said. He added with a laugh that Bradshaw “might have had some pain medicine on board [during the broadcast] because he did suggest that the Steelers were going to win the Super Bowl.”
Terry Bradshaw tells the UA Board of Trustees that before his knee replacement surgery he was in “100 percent acute pain.” Five weeks later, he is now pain free.
Five weeks after the surgery, the four-time Super Bowl winner said he is pain free. He said he was so impressed with the care he received at UAMS that he is coming back here for ankle fusion surgery and is already recommending Barnes and UAMS to others.
Bradshaw praised the professionalism and passion of UAMS’ doctors, nurses and other employees.
“It’s not an overstated word, passion. It is something that is sorely needed in everything in life — from your marriage, to your jobs, to the care of your children, your neighborhood, the city you live in, your country,” he said. “Passion is just a wonderful thing. And apply to that the intelligence and knowledge that all of you folks have at this wonderful place, it is pretty amazing.”
Bradshaw’s speech was part of a presentation to the board by UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D., in which Rahn discussed the successes of UAMS, as well as the financial challenges facing the academic health center. Barnes and James Suen, M.D., chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology -Head and Neck Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine, also spoke at the meeting.
Bradshaw urged the board to find the necessary funds to keep UAMS a world-class facility.
“You should be extremely proud of what you’re doing here, with what you’ve got here. … From a patient and an outsider, I’m very impressed.”