Martin W. Roche, knee surgeon and director of arthroplasty at HSS Florida is featured in a CNN segment spotlighting Lindsey Vonn’s determination to compete in the upcoming Olympic downhill. She will be skiing on a left knee with a severed ligament from a recent ACL rupture and a right knee that’s been reconstructed with titanium.

“I’m not letting this slip through my fingers,’’ she said. “I’m gonna do it, end of story. I’m not letting myself go down that path. I’m not crying. My head is high. I’m standing tall and I’m gonna do my best, whatever the result is, that’s what it is, but I’ll never say I didn’t try,’’ said Vonn. 

This is not her first ACL tear. It is her third, to go along with a fractured ankle, knee, humerus, microfractures in her forearm, tibial fractures in her leg, a torn LCL, two torn MCLs and an acute facet dysfunction of her back – better known as debilitating spasms brought on by trauma.

Watching the sport go on without her wasn’t easy, but she had made her choice and made peace with it as well. When , crafted a 3D version of her knee to use as a model for her titanium replacement, it wasn’t about returning to skiing. It was about living a life without pain.

Read the full story at cnn.com.