Berkshire Health Systems
  • BMC/Fairview Chargemaster
  • BMC Facebook
  • Pay Your Bill Online
  • About Us
  • Employment
  • Medical Staff Portal
  • BMC Parking Maps
  • Advocacy for Access at BMC
  • Advocacy for Access at Fairview
  • Berkshire Patient Portal
  • BHS Blood Drawing Stations
  • BHS Bloodmobile
  • BHS Community Benefits Implementation Plan
  • BHS News
  • BHS Privacy Practices
  • BMC Community Benefits Report FY 2017
  • BMC Medical Interpreters
  • Community Outreach Program
  • County Health Needs Assessment
  • Financial Counseling/Ayuda Financiera
  • Helpful Patient Tools
  • Medical Interpreters at Fairview
  • MedlinePlus
  • MedlinePlus en Espanol
  • One Medical Passport
  • Pay Your Bill Online
  • Pre-Surgical Assessment
  • Request a Medical Record
  • Send a Patient Greeting
  • Wellness Works Website - For BHS Employees & Spouses
  • Worksite Wellness
Berkshire Health Systems
  • Programs & Services
    • Anesthesiology
    • Bariatrics
    • Better Start
    • Cancer Care
    • Cardiology
    • Concussion
    • Diabetes Care
    • Emergency Care
    • Endoscopy
    • Home Care
    • Hospitalists
    • Kidney & Dialysis
    • Laboratory Services
    • Maternity
    • Neurology
    • Neurosurgery
    • Occupational Med
    • Orthopedics
    • Outreach
    • Pain Management
    • Pharmacy
    • Psychiatry
    • Pulmonary Care
    • Radiology
    • Rehabilitation
    • Sleep Disorders
    • State Clinics
    • Stroke Care
    • Surgery
    • Trauma Care
    • Travel Medicine
    • Urgent Care
    • Urology
    • Wellness
    • WIC Program
    • Women's Imaging
    • Wound Care
    • Patient & Visitor Information
    • Quality Care & Patient Safety
    • Calendar & Events
    • News
    • Maps & Directions
    • Ways to Give
    • Health Encyclopedia
    • Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, MA
    • Fairview Hospital, Great Barrington, MA
    • Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association
    • BHS Survey Module
  • Locations
    • Berkshire Medical Center
    • Fairview Hospital
    • North Adams Campus of BMC
    • BMC & Fairview Physician Practices
    • Berkshire Visiting Nurse Association
    • BHS Urgent Care
    • Long Term Care
    • BHS Laboratory - Blood Drawing Stations
  • Find a Physician
  • BHS Physician Practices
  • Medical Education
    • Message from Dr. Mark Pettus
    • Internal Medicine Residency
    • Surgery Residency
    • Osteopathic Medical Education
    • Psychiatry Residency
    • Dentistry Residency
    • Medical Students
    • Continuing Medical Education
    • School of Medical Technology
    • Schwartz Center Rounds
  • BMC/Fairview Chargemaster
  • BMC Facebook
  • Pay Your Bill Online
  • About Us
  • Employment
  • Medical Staff Portal
  1. Home
  2. Programs & Services
  3. Orthopedic Surgery
  4. Orthopedic Surgery Patient Stories
  5. Jake Donovan's Story

Orthopedic Surgery Patient Stories

Orthopedic Surgery Patient Stories

  • Drew DeMarsico's Story
  • Buddy Lewis' Story
  • Nancy Labombard's Story
  • Dick Ryan's Story
  • Bonnie Ditello's Story
  • Jake Donovan's Story
  • Drew DeMarsico's Story
  • Buddy Lewis' Story
  • Nancy Labombard's Story
  • Dick Ryan's Story
  • Bonnie Ditello's Story
  • Jake Donovan's Story

Jake Donovan's Story


“They give you your life back is what they do”

DonovanMainAnterior.jpgJust six weeks after undergoing surgery to replace a hip so deteriorated he could barely walk, much less operate a pay-loader, sand and gravel contractor Jake Donovan, 63, of Stockbridge, not only is fully back to work. There are moments he forgets which hip was done.
“I actually have to stop and think which hip they replaced,” he said. “It was the left. There’s just no pain to remind me anymore. I don’t baby it. I do everything I’ve ever done. I run around just like nothing ever happened.”

As a US Marine Corp. veteran and a sand and gravel contractor in the Berkshires for more than 40 years, Jake certainly is no stranger to good hard work and the aches and pains that come with it. It was a couple of years ago that he first started noticing the pain, but like many people, he shrugged it off as a natural sign of getting older.

“At first, it just felt like I pulled a muscle in my thigh. I kept saying, ‘Aw, it will get better.’ But, of course, it didn’t. It just kept getting worse and worse.  Eventually, I couldn’t straighten my leg out. Knowing what I know now, that was pretty stupid.”

He looks back and can’t believe some of the things he would do to compensate. “I couldn’t get into my truck without physically lifting my leg up by grabbing onto my pant leg with my left hand.”

There finally came a time when he knew could no longer ignore the pain and the dramatic limitations. A closer examination and x-rays revealed the tissues around his hip joint had deteriorated to bone-on-bone. All those years of heavy lifting, shoveling, pivoting and hopping aboard trucks and tractors had taken its toll.

It’s hard to get Jake to talk long about the procedure itself, his short stay at the hospital and his recovery period. Not because it’s a bad memory. "It was the best thing I’ve ever done," he said. It’s just that he prefers to jump ahead to talking about his remarkably quick return to his normal routine.
“In two weeks, I was back at my plant and running those pay-loaders."

But he does take a moment to point out the significance of his experience with the BMC Joint Replacement Program.

“They give you your life back is what they do. They certainly gave mine back.”

100-px-Fern.jpg
  •   (413) 447-2000
  •   Email - General Inquiries Only
  •   Email - BMC Patient Relations
  •   Email - BHS Physician Practices
  •   Email - Fairview Hospital Inquiries
  • Employment at BHS
  • About Us
  • 2015 BHS Annual Report
  • 2016 BMC Report on Cancer
  • Quality Care & Patient Safety
  • Berkshire Patient Portal
  • Awards & Accreditations
  • BHS Community Outreach
  • BHS Bloodmobile
  • BMC FY 2016 Community Benefits Report
  • Fairview FY 2015 Community Benefits Report
  • Ways to Give
  • Give Us Your Feedback

© 2019 Berkshire Health Systems

725 North Street

Pittsfield, MA 01201

  • News
  • Privacy Practices
  • Practicas De Privacidad
  • Site Map
  • BHS Privacy Practices
  • Contact Us