BioJoint Patient Honors Donor Families

Fred Stipkovits, a veteran of the United States Coast Guard, suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung, spinal trauma and a severely injured knee when a homeland security mission ended in a high-speed boat crash.

Faced with the options of fusion of his knee or artificial joint replacement, he saw a Mizzou BioJoint® Center commercial. Stipkovits decided a BioJoint procedure would work better for his active lifestyle and young age.

Thanks to the generous gift of tissue donation from an organ donor, Stipkovits received cartilage and bone transplants at the Mizzou BioJoint® Center in the summer of 2017.

Stipkovits shared his gratitude to the donor families in attendance at the Midwest Transplant Foundation’s Celebration of Heroes on June 28 at the Tiger Hotel in Columbia.