Experimental therapy prompts Sam's big comeback
Sports Director Sam Kouvaris gets new strength from his own stem cells
By Joy Purdy - 5:30, 6:30 & 11 p.m. anchor , Jodi Mohrmann - Managing Editor of special projects
Posted: 10:00 PM, April 07, 2016
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - It's not something News4Jax Sports Anchor Sam Kouvaris has talked about before, but now he is sharing his story of an experimental therapy that is giving the athlete his strength back. Five months ago, Sam started an experimental procedure on his knee to help his body heal itself -- adult stem cell therapy.
Sam, who's been Jacksonville's die-hard sports expert for the past 35 years, loves to participate in sports himself.
Over the past 50 years he's participated in many different sports, but his favorite activity now is biking. It's that event that led to him tearing the meniscus in his left knee five years ago. It happened when he had a scary fall during a charity bike ride in Austin, Texas.
"The next thing I remember was waking up in the middle of the road, gasping for air," Sam recalled.
His helmet broke in eight places, which he says likely saved his life.
"Since the fall, it hurt," Sam said of the pain in his knee. "But it wasn't until it kept me up at night that I decided I needed to do something about it."
After trying several different strategies to mend the damaged cartilage and stop his pain, Sam ultimately turned to the team at Southeast Orthopedic Specialists.
Dr. Stephan Esser used an ultrasound to look inside Sam's hurt knee.
He told Sam it was evident that the torn cartilage -- which was supposed to be cushioning and stabilizing Sam's knee joint -- had already been weakened by 50 years of sports activities, and was no longer protecting his bones from wear and tear.
"I played everything as a kid, and I was a three-sport letterman in high school, and played a little bit in college as a freshman, and then played semi-pro football and baseball," Sam said.
In recent years, besides working out four to six days a week, Sam has continued to enjoy basketball and running, golf -- and as mentioned -- biking. All that activity would digress as the pain in his knee progressed.
"You can see this little sharp bone sticking up on the end of your bone there, that's arthritis," Esser said while looking at Sam's x-ray.
"There is a difference between 50 to 55 and 55 to 60. Your body starts to betray you if you have used it a lot," said Sam.
Sam has tried many different procedures to repair the damage, from replacement knee fluid to shoe inserts. He finally turned to Adult Stem cell Therapy to help revitalize his joint, even help regrown the cartilage in his knee.
"It is brand new science. That is, to me, a scary part for a lot of people. And as soon as you say stem cells, a lot of people tune it out," said Sam.
But what Sam had done is different. His doctors explained the stem cells they were using would come from Sam's own body.
"These are your own cells, in your own body, that can replicate the things around them. I mean that is how God designed us," Sam explained.
First, Esser pulls blood from Sam's arm and then puts it through a centrifuge to harvest the healing platelets and white blood cells.
platelets into knee_1460061146377.jpg
Minutes later, Esser injects the platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, into Sam's hurt knee.
"I'm not hurting you too much am I?" Esser asked Sam.
"Not at all, actually," he responded.
That process helps create a clean environment inside to better allow the incoming stem cells to grow.
About two months later, Sam returned to Esser's office for what is considered a very painful procedure. Esser describes it as about four minutes of "unpleasantness."
Esser talks Sam through those four painful minutes, as he pulls bone marrow from the back of Sam's hip bone.
"Doing all right?" Esser asked Sam.
"Yeah, I mean it hurts like hell," answered Sam.
Sam described the pain on a scale of one to 10 as a six, but those four minutes end and Sam's bone marrow is sent through a centrifuge to separate the stem cells. Those cells are then inserted right into Sam's knee.
"A little burn there, feel that?" Esser asked Sam.
"Oh yeah," Sam responded and laughed.
Sam says the rehabilitation after the procedure made him inactive for the first two months. He was also unable to take any anti-inflammatory medicine for the swelling and soreness. Sam recalls telling a long-time friend, that he was getting impatient and anxious to see results.
"So I wrote Paul Shirley and said, you know, I'm struggling here. I said do you have any advice? And he said 'ice and prayer' and it worked," Sam said.
Sam says prayer put him in the right direction.
"If this isn't supposed to work for me, I get it, you know, but let me have the wisdom to be an 85-percent patient and not a 50-percent patient -- to give me the patience to do that to let this work happen -- rather than saying, 'come on God, fix my knee,'" Sam explained.
Sam compares the entire process to what it feels like after have full-fledged surgery. A small sacrifice, to now have a 70-percent improvement in knee function nearly 5 months later.
"I rode my bike 50 miles on my bike last Sunday. I get off my bike and I have no knee pain whatsoever. I used to get out of bed in the morning and before I walked across the room I used to steady myself and see where my knee hurt. Now I get out of the bed in the morning and walk across the room with no problems," Sam explained about his new strength.
But Sam admits, he was not considered a "good" candidate for this procedure for two reasons.
"I was too old, and the arthritis in my knee was too severe. Ideally what they are trying to do is get people in their 30's and 40-'s who are starting to experience just the beginnings of knee problems and have them invest in this and insurances invest in this," explained Sam. "Their stem cells are more active, willing to replicate; structure is more willing to accept all that and grow faster. As you get older, your body starts to slow down and you can't do anything about it. So if they can get younger people with knee, elbow, neck or shoulder problems, and the younger you are, the better chance of success you have."
Beyond himself, there was another motivating factor for Sam to try this experimental treatment.
"In July of last year, my daughter had a baby and you know all of a sudden I am sitting in their living room -- and he is across the living room -- and he starts to cry, and I go to get up and my knee catches and it actually occurred to me, 'hey, I don't want to be that guy sitting on a bench across the park. I want to be that guy who is out there with him doing stuff and continue to do stuff with my kids.' So it was a motivating factor for sure," Sam explained.
The procedure is not covered by insurance. Sam's bill came to $3,500, and for an extra $500, he also had his right knee treated with stem cell therapy before any serious issues could arise with it.
Sports Director Sam Kouvaris gets new strength from his own stem cells
By Joy Purdy - 5:30, 6:30 & 11 p.m. anchor , Jodi Mohrmann - Managing Editor of special projects
Posted: 10:00 PM, April 07, 2016
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - It's not something News4Jax Sports Anchor Sam Kouvaris has talked about before, but now he is sharing his story of an experimental therapy that is giving the athlete his strength back. Five months ago, Sam started an experimental procedure on his knee to help his body heal itself -- adult stem cell therapy.
Sam, who's been Jacksonville's die-hard sports expert for the past 35 years, loves to participate in sports himself.
Over the past 50 years he's participated in many different sports, but his favorite activity now is biking. It's that event that led to him tearing the meniscus in his left knee five years ago. It happened when he had a scary fall during a charity bike ride in Austin, Texas.
"The next thing I remember was waking up in the middle of the road, gasping for air," Sam recalled.
His helmet broke in eight places, which he says likely saved his life.
"Since the fall, it hurt," Sam said of the pain in his knee. "But it wasn't until it kept me up at night that I decided I needed to do something about it."
After trying several different strategies to mend the damaged cartilage and stop his pain, Sam ultimately turned to the team at Southeast Orthopedic Specialists.
Dr. Stephan Esser used an ultrasound to look inside Sam's hurt knee.
He told Sam it was evident that the torn cartilage -- which was supposed to be cushioning and stabilizing Sam's knee joint -- had already been weakened by 50 years of sports activities, and was no longer protecting his bones from wear and tear.
"I played everything as a kid, and I was a three-sport letterman in high school, and played a little bit in college as a freshman, and then played semi-pro football and baseball," Sam said.
In recent years, besides working out four to six days a week, Sam has continued to enjoy basketball and running, golf -- and as mentioned -- biking. All that activity would digress as the pain in his knee progressed.
"You can see this little sharp bone sticking up on the end of your bone there, that's arthritis," Esser said while looking at Sam's x-ray.
"There is a difference between 50 to 55 and 55 to 60. Your body starts to betray you if you have used it a lot," said Sam.
Sam has tried many different procedures to repair the damage, from replacement knee fluid to shoe inserts. He finally turned to Adult Stem cell Therapy to help revitalize his joint, even help regrown the cartilage in his knee.
"It is brand new science. That is, to me, a scary part for a lot of people. And as soon as you say stem cells, a lot of people tune it out," said Sam.
But what Sam had done is different. His doctors explained the stem cells they were using would come from Sam's own body.
"These are your own cells, in your own body, that can replicate the things around them. I mean that is how God designed us," Sam explained.
First, Esser pulls blood from Sam's arm and then puts it through a centrifuge to harvest the healing platelets and white blood cells.
platelets into knee_1460061146377.jpg
Minutes later, Esser injects the platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, into Sam's hurt knee.
"I'm not hurting you too much am I?" Esser asked Sam.
"Not at all, actually," he responded.
That process helps create a clean environment inside to better allow the incoming stem cells to grow.
About two months later, Sam returned to Esser's office for what is considered a very painful procedure. Esser describes it as about four minutes of "unpleasantness."
Esser talks Sam through those four painful minutes, as he pulls bone marrow from the back of Sam's hip bone.
"Doing all right?" Esser asked Sam.
"Yeah, I mean it hurts like hell," answered Sam.
Sam described the pain on a scale of one to 10 as a six, but those four minutes end and Sam's bone marrow is sent through a centrifuge to separate the stem cells. Those cells are then inserted right into Sam's knee.
"A little burn there, feel that?" Esser asked Sam.
"Oh yeah," Sam responded and laughed.
Sam says the rehabilitation after the procedure made him inactive for the first two months. He was also unable to take any anti-inflammatory medicine for the swelling and soreness. Sam recalls telling a long-time friend, that he was getting impatient and anxious to see results.
"So I wrote Paul Shirley and said, you know, I'm struggling here. I said do you have any advice? And he said 'ice and prayer' and it worked," Sam said.
Sam says prayer put him in the right direction.
"If this isn't supposed to work for me, I get it, you know, but let me have the wisdom to be an 85-percent patient and not a 50-percent patient -- to give me the patience to do that to let this work happen -- rather than saying, 'come on God, fix my knee,'" Sam explained.
Sam compares the entire process to what it feels like after have full-fledged surgery. A small sacrifice, to now have a 70-percent improvement in knee function nearly 5 months later.
"I rode my bike 50 miles on my bike last Sunday. I get off my bike and I have no knee pain whatsoever. I used to get out of bed in the morning and before I walked across the room I used to steady myself and see where my knee hurt. Now I get out of the bed in the morning and walk across the room with no problems," Sam explained about his new strength.
But Sam admits, he was not considered a "good" candidate for this procedure for two reasons.
"I was too old, and the arthritis in my knee was too severe. Ideally what they are trying to do is get people in their 30's and 40-'s who are starting to experience just the beginnings of knee problems and have them invest in this and insurances invest in this," explained Sam. "Their stem cells are more active, willing to replicate; structure is more willing to accept all that and grow faster. As you get older, your body starts to slow down and you can't do anything about it. So if they can get younger people with knee, elbow, neck or shoulder problems, and the younger you are, the better chance of success you have."
Beyond himself, there was another motivating factor for Sam to try this experimental treatment.
"In July of last year, my daughter had a baby and you know all of a sudden I am sitting in their living room -- and he is across the living room -- and he starts to cry, and I go to get up and my knee catches and it actually occurred to me, 'hey, I don't want to be that guy sitting on a bench across the park. I want to be that guy who is out there with him doing stuff and continue to do stuff with my kids.' So it was a motivating factor for sure," Sam explained.
The procedure is not covered by insurance. Sam's bill came to $3,500, and for an extra $500, he also had his right knee treated with stem cell therapy before any serious issues could arise with it.