Olesya Prystayko does not have too many "typical". The 36-year-old Longmont resident speaks five languages. As a young woman, she often runs 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) at a pace of 5:50 miles. It was after swimming 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles) and cycling for 40 kilometers (approximately 25 miles). Add these distances together and you get the Olympic distance triathlon. Her time is fast enough for her to enter the Ukrainian national triathlon team.
She traveled the world, competed with a German professional triathlon team, and later managed a German professional triathlon team. In the process, she obtained a master's degree in sports science. In 2013, she saved enough money to come to the United States to try to become a professional athlete in triathlon competitions (2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles cycling and 26.2 miles running). She moved abroad, to support herself, she shipped phone books in Idaho and Montana, and then helped nurses trained overseas to get certified here in Colorado.
On the foggy night of October 16, 2020, this atypical person was seriously injured in the most typical way. A car accident at a construction site on Highway 52 in Longmont, Colorado, made her one of the approximately 4.5 million people injured in car accidents each year.
Part of her car engine and metal structure logo fell on her lap. She suffered facial injuries, ruptured vertebrae, fractured elbows, and perhaps the most severely damaged knee.
"My legs are completely upside down," Prystayko recalled.
Firefighters rescued her from the car; an ambulance drove her to UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Anschutz Medical Park (UCH). There, she was intubated and stabilized. A multidisciplinary team of surgeons, intensive care doctors, and others discussed the course of action for future restoration. On the second day, the first of many operations will begin.
Dr. William McMunn, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at the University of Colorado School of Dentistry, first repaired the broken nose. Four days later, on October 21, McMunn reconstructed Prystayko's left cheekbone. She later described this combination as a "beautiful work". On October 22, Dr. Nicholas Alfonso, orthopedic trauma surgeon from CU Medical School and UCHealth, repaired her right elbow, which had been broken in three places. Five days later, the swelling in Prystayko's right knee subsided to the point where surgery could be performed.
Although elbow surgery is extensive, an experienced orthopedic traumatologist like Alfonso has never seen such an operation before. The knee is another matter. There is a complex fracture at the top of the tibia, and the repair involves titanium screws and plates. Alfonso is very satisfied. But MRI has found evidence of soft tissue damage. Alfonso brought Dr. Rachel Frank, an orthopedic surgeon from CU Medical School and UCHealth, who is a sports medicine expert. Although bones are also her field, she has deep expertise in "soft" tissues such as ligaments and cartilage. Surgeons will collaborate in an operation.
Alfonso first repaired the broken tibia. "The point is, first the stable bones, then the stable ligaments," as Frank said. Then it was Frank's turn. With the exception of the severe injury to the lateral meniscus, all four knee ligaments—anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament, and lateral collateral ligament (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL)—have been damaged: PCL and LCL Complete tear, ACL and MCL partially tear. Frank repaired the LCL and kept the rest-in her experience, they can scar and heal functionally with the help of increased blood flow to restore the fracture. (Similarly, spinal fractures will heal on their own, the research team concluded.) The bigger problem is the meniscus—the thick cartilage pad of the knee—because it tears from the mooring at the top of the tibia and flips completely.
Here, Frank's experience as a sports medicine physician is crucial. Although Prystayko is no longer a professional triathlete, she continues to ride and run faster than all of us. Although removal/trimming is the easiest way, Frank wants to preserve the meniscus by repairing it, and this is what she did.
"It's really important to think of her as an athlete," Frank said. "If we remove most or all of the meniscus, we can almost certainly cause knee dysfunction in the future."
After her first round of surgery, Prystayko recovered in the hospital for a few days, and then returned to her apartment with a straight leg brace on her leg and a plaster cast on her elbow to prevent crutches. She was confined to a wheelchair and relied on a roommate because she could not climb the wheelchair ramp of the building with just one arm.
"This is a challenge," Prystayko said. "I'm an outsider, here, I have stayed at home for several months."
She was also banned. Prystayko was on her way home from Vancebrand Airport in Longmont the night of the car accident. There, she learned how to become a pilot and is working hard to obtain her flight instructor certificate. Now all this has been put on hold.
Without dedication and determination, you will not be an excellent athlete, and these characteristics promote her recovery. By January 2021, Prystayko's knees had regained sufficient exercise capacity for her to drive, although first she had to figure out how to remove herself from the wheelchair and fold it with her elbows fixed. As soon as she was allowed to swim, she went back to the swimming pool. Prystayko often runs more than a mile in open water. Now she found herself sitting in a chair and sinking into the water. After a few efforts, she recognized how weak she had become. But under the guidance of Longmont and Lafayette's Altitude Physical Therapy staff and German physical therapist Vadim Ruschmeyer, she kept pushing herself and she became stronger.
"Challenging myself in pain and discomfort is my comfort," Prystayko said.
In March, she was walking. There are more operations — five months later, Frank put her under anesthesia for arthroscopy and scraped scar tissue to improve her range of motion. She also evaluated the meniscus, and Frank said, "It looks beautiful and normal, as if we had never been there."
In July 2021, Prystayko returned to Russia to do more than just visit his family. She climbed almost all of Mount Elbrus and stopped at 17,500 feet. In the YouTube video, she yelled at many paramedics who made her stand up again.
"I want to say'thank you' to all the doctors who were involved in repairing this leg, this elbow and this face-so that this butt can climb the highest mountain in Europe," she said.
Even for triathletes with uncomfortable comfort, it is impressive to perform so many attempts just nine months after such a serious injury. On the first anniversary of the accident, Prystayko rode more than 100 miles on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. She named the ride on October 16 "Antikona", which is a reference to Kona Ironman, who is rarely eligible to participate.
Frank said: "Even though she is injured, she is doing things that most people who have not experienced this kind of injury cannot do."
On November 2nd, Prystayko returned to UCH to remove the titanium hardware from her knees for Alfonso, and in a separate operation for CU Medical School and UCHealth plastic surgeon and shoulder and elbow expert Dr. Adam Seidl to release scar tissue to improve her elbow’s health Range of motion.
Prystayko returned to the air and began her multi-engine flight training. At the same time, she was teaching her own students. She became a certified Aero-Sphere flight instructor in August. She is undergoing multi-engine training and has accumulated the time required to fly a commercial aircraft. She thanked her doctors, physiotherapists and others for everything they did for her. She said that Frank was “really thoughtful, and I think this connection is like she wants me to recover-Nick [Alfonso] and all of my doctors too.”
Frank said that the cooperation between various professional surgeons, the hard work of physical therapy and rehabilitation specialists, and Prystayko's own motivation for rehabilitation combine to achieve the best results.
"I am very fortunate to be a member of the team. I know we will do our own job, and the therapist will do their job, especially in this case, the patient will do their job." Frank said. "In such a complicated situation, this is all you can hope for."
Prystayko said that this experience has allowed her to understand her health better and feel more sympathetic to those who are burdened with health problems.
"I don't know the other people's struggles," she said.
This recognition—like the woman who noticed it—is far from typical.
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