Two years ago, Dylan, a 13-year-old elite level rugby player, started to experience knee pain, and during a game his right knee gave way. Initially diagnosed with ‘growing pains’ and encouraged to play through the pain by an NHS physiotherapist, his knee gave way twice more before his parents stopped him playing.

Over the next 18 months he saw many NHS specialists and had an arthroscopy, which resulted in confirmation of a right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture, and there being a meniscus tear in the same knee. The specialist attempted to repair the tear but was unsuccessful due to the misalignment and growth injury in Dylan’s knee.

With no date in sight for the ACL repair on the NHS, despite attempts to bring the operation forward, Dylan’s parents, concerned for their son’s delicate state of mind contacted private specialists. Dylan’s father, John, says: “Professor Adrian Wilson was the only private specialist to assure them that he would take complete management of Dylan’s knee and was also the first medical professional to give us a realistic, pragmatic view on Dylan’s rugby future.”

Professor Wilson recommended operating on Dylan’s ACL rupture before any correction of the alignment of Dylan’s knee took place and also suggested that Dylan was entered in a prevention programme to reduce the chance of re-rupture. He outlined the risks and benefits of surgery and the operation on the ACL rupture and meniscal tear took place in November 2018.

While Dylan hoped that the operation would fix his knee and will play rugby again, his parents were more realistic and just wanted his knee being repaired as effectively as possible, by the best available surgeon, to limit reoccurring injury. Dylan’s father, John says: “Professor Wilson is a hero to our son, and someone who is held in the highest regards within our family. Our 13-year-old son had received a lot of bad news due to a failed meniscus tear repair and had a rupture to his ACL, along with symmetry of the knee. His life was rugby, and he was damn good at it! Not only did Adrian fix his knee, the empathy he’s shown throughout, and the confidence he has re-installed into our son is nothing short of a miracle, and that is no exaggeration. Our only regret, as parents, is that we didn’t seek Adrian’s advice and expertise earlier.”