To say that 67-year-old Nick Siecko's retirement years have been active is a vast understatement.   The Malvern resident and his wife of 37-years, Marianne, love to downhill ski, inline skate, snow-shoe through rugged back country, sail or power boat across Chesapeake Bay, bicycle around Nova Scotia and tour California coastal highways on matching motorcycles.

In April 2005, while riding his BMW motorcycle only a couple of miles from home, Siecko found himself staring at an oncoming car in his lane. (He found out later the elderly man behind the wheel was in diabetic shock). He swerved, but the car's left front bumper caught him and tossed him high in the air.

Rosemary Cardarelli, a clinical social worker at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital who was just leaving work, observed the accident and was first on the scene. She knew immediately that Siecko, who was bleeding profusely from his mangled left leg, needed immediate help and called 911. Malvern Paramedics responded quickly.

"I remember Rosemary holding my hand and saying 'Stay with us. Stay with us,'" Siecko recalls. A helicopter whisked him away to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Doctor's there found no detectable blood circulation in his lower leg. Pieces of thigh bone were entirely missing. "I said to do what was necessary to save his life," Marianne recalls.

Three days later, after two additional surgeries, he was standing with the support of a walker and was determined to do whatever it might take to get back to his active lifestyle. Marianne's careful research identified a highly respected Amputee Program at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital where, after a fourth operation and a month of recuperation, Siecko and his wife were finally able to thank Rosemary in person for her prompt life-saving action.

Continuum of Care
"Our Amputee Program provides a broad array of inpatient and outpatient services from initial amputation through permanent prosthesis," says John J. Kraus, M.D., M.M.M., who is Chief Medical Officer at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital and runs its Amputee Program. "When we first saw Nick less than six weeks after his accident, he already had made impressive strides in performing all the tasks of daily living, so an initial inpatient stay was not necessary. We were able to fit him immediately with a prosthesis through our Outpatient Amputee Clinic."

That high-tech prosthesis -- developed by Ossur, a firm in Iceland -- features an artificial knee controlled by microprocessors that respond to feedback from positioning and pressure on the artificial toe and heel. That feedback changes the viscosity of fluid in the mechanical knee so it bends and flexes much like a real knee.

"Dr. Kraus and my therapists urged me to pace myself so my skills and stamina could develop together in parallel," says Siecko, who recently finished 12 weeks of outpatient therapy with a flourish, riding his bicycle along the hospital's meandering paths and virtually hopping down a flight of stairs.

"Exercise and outdoor sports to me are as essential as breathing," Siecko says.  "They enhance my joy of life a hundred fold. The staff at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital gave me the motivation to overcome every obstacle."