Sister Eleanor's Story

"The process was very, very positive."

Sister Eleanor O'Connell was very active and enjoyed hiking, backpacking, cross-country skiing, and golfing. And as a teacher, she spent many years on her feet. When she suddenly started experiencing knee pain, her lifestyle really changed. "I used to walk 3.5 miles a day. I stopped doing that," she recalls. Hearing good things about the doctors at the Virtua Joint Replacement Institute, she had a minimally invasive, quad-sparing knee replacement procedure done in 2010. The experience was so positive that when her hip started giving her trouble, she scheduled a minimally invasive hip replacement without hesitation. "I thought, am I going to have to be on a cane for the rest of my life? But Dr. Jain said, 'One day you'll walk away and you won't need a cane,' and that's just what happened."