Warren McCann and the Outrageous Cost of Knees

This is Warren.

Warren likes to work hard.

Warren likes to play hard.

Warren’s knees do not.

Warren’s knees began to betray him years ago when he started experiencing chronic pain and discomfort as a result of deteriorating knee function. The scientific term for this is known as MYOO-ti-knee.

Warren’s career as a skilled NDT Technician requires him to walk, kneel, crouch, climb stairs, crawl, maneuver uneven ground, shove himself into ridiculously small openings, and avoid tripping hazards in an industrial setting. In short, he kneeds his knees.

Warren’s hobby as a race car driver requires him to, well, just be entirely awesome. Not everything has to be about knees, ok?

Anyway, as his pain increased and mobility grew limited, Warren was finally diagnosed with requiring knee replacement surgery. The catch? In BC, the waitlist for surgery like this could take up to four years.

I said four years. (For those of us who are numerically defective, that’s one more than three, which, quite frankly, would have been optimal in terms of this write up because rhyming - but a girl can’t always get what she wants, I digress, so back to Warren and his knee-needing.)

Warren was staring down the barrel of four years of chronic pain and decreased mobility which would no doubt have a vastly adverse effect on his livelihood and quality of life. His income had already suffered because of how much of total jerkface his knee had become, and it was only going to get worse from there.

Warren, however, being the NDT teching, race-car driving, adrenalin-loving kind of guy he is, was not willing to just lay down and accept this languishing fate (although laying down is probably better for that knee, Warren). He began to investigate his options. OBJECTIVE: get a new knee, lose the pain, gain mobility, get back to work, make dolla dolla bills, and enjoy life again. ASAP. (Of course, he knew there would be sacrifices: Cheap. Quick. Healthy - Pick two.)

Well dang if he didn’t knock a solution right outta the park. Like, completely out of the park and across the ocean. Get this, of all the places this guy could’ve gone for invasive surgery, he picks

Lithuania.

Lith-oo-ay-KNEE-a.

Dude.

I dunno about y’all, but if I ever kneed knee surgery and I can’t get it done at a location I can turn into a silly pun, I don’t want it.

Anyways, back to Warren.

Remember the whole cheap, quick, healthy thing?

Wait, what?!

I know, right? Turns out knees are pretty pricey. Who knew.

[Insert montage, set to Eye of the Tiger: Warren jets off to Lith-oo-ay-knee-a, levels up his knee, and undertakes the grueling adventure that is physiotherapy.]

SO, let me get to why we're all here:

Warren is set to return home near the end of the month, and those who know him also know that Warren deserves a whopping helping hand (everyone deserves that). This guy is a kind-hearted and hard-working father and husband who has also acquired many racing trophies which is obviously a hallmark of being a stupendous and awesome person. Duh. (but he is anyway, even without the trophies :)

Could you imagine the toll on your household in this economy if you had to reduce work hours and lose income to accommodate chronic pain and mobility issues, shell out thousands just for a chance to return to work sooner rather than later, and then spend even more time recovering from surgery? It could happen to any one of us. And right now, it's happening to Warren.

If you are in a position to help Warren and his family with this speedbump (hah! Racing reference!), please consider doing so. As they say, a little goes a long way.

And so will Warren with his new Lithuanian knee.