Dave Mackey opts for lower leg amputation after trail running accident
Accomplished ultrarunner Dave Mackey has announced that he will have his lower left leg amputated following 13 surgeries since May 2015.
After 13 surgeries following a trail running accident, Dave Mackey has opted to have his lower left leg amputated. Mackey, 46, was mountain running near Boulder, Colo. in May 2015 when he fell more than six metres breaking his left leg in multiple places.
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A three-week hospital stay followed, during which he had seven surgeries, according to Competitor Running, but he continued to experience leg infections, pain and mobility issues. According to his Facebook post, “running has not been an option in the least just yet.”
He had his most recent surgery three months ago and could walk without a cane. Recurring complications, however, have put his long-term mobility in jeopardy. He says that he has spoken with health professionals, friends and family about the decision with amputation being the best chance for success.
“So I am at a crossroads. Do I continue with more surgeries with very high likelihood of failure? More time in a hellish external fixator? And even then there would always be pain.”
The champion ultrarunner, who works as a physician assistant, won the Quad Dipsea in 2013 in course record time, set the fastest-known time on a Grand Canyon route, which has since been broken, as well being named U.S. ultrarunner of the year twice. He believes that a lower leg amputation, below the knee, will allow him to run again, with a prosthetic, rather than continue the ongoing surgeries.
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He says in his Facebook post that he will be able to “walk the kids to school without a thought.” Mackey says that the technology will enable him to resume racing as well as train in the Boulder mountains in his backyard.
Mackey’s Facebook post:
“It’s been a long 16 months since I fell off Bear Peak above my house, sustaining an open tibial/fibula fracture to my left leg. The long rescue followed, 13 surgeries, including skin, muscle and bone grafting, washouts of the open-fracture contaminated surgical sites, being in an external-fixator (think “iron lung”, only on the outside of the leg) for three months, and bone infection (which still resides). I have achieved a degree of success in mobility and some improvement. I went from not walking at all, to walking with a cane until this past July, to walking cane-free now. Running has not been an option in the least just yet. Riding a mountain bike most every day now is almost real freedom. But there is still pain whenever I walk and throbbing at night, and now intramedullary nail (a rod) is wobbling and the bone grafting at the middle if the fracture sight is not dense.
“So I am at a crossroads. Do I continue with more surgeries with very high likelihood of failure? More time in a hellish external fixator? And even then there would always be pain.
“But there is another solution, the definite, non-reversible one, to be 100 percent to where I was before the accident and almost completely pain-free. There is a way to get here and I’ve decided to go this route. This would mean the freedom, if I choose it, to walk the kids to school without a thought, ski, run in 6-8 weeks, compete in races again, even take down Mike Wardian’s treadmill world record (okay, this will NOT happen). So the big news is that next week I will have my left leg amputated below the left knee here in Boulder.
“I’ve spoken extensively with orthopedic surgeons and other healthcare professionals and co-workers about my options. And there are other surgical options than amputation, but the chances of success are slim, and it feels time to move on. Being below the knee, this is a ‘good’ amputation to have. The technology of prosthetics is incredible these days, and improving, so I will be out in the mountains as before with my family and friends, to completing or competing in events again, having the ability to run any distance.
“There will likely be some sort of party on October 31 (how appropriate!) in Boulder… so come and join if you are around! TBA. Thank you to all those who have supported me through this process, there are 100’s of folks to recognize, and to Hoka One One for sticking by me.”
Competitor reports that the amputation is scheduled for Nov. 1.
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