In the mid-1970s, a crafty but achy-armed left-handed pitcher named Tommy John faced the prospect of surgery to extend his career in Major League Baseball. His surgeon, Dr. Frank Jobe, devised a new way to treat John’s ailment, using a tendon elsewhere in his patient’s body to replace a damaged ulnar collateral ligament. The new technique proved a stroke of genius as it not only allowed John to resume his career, it also saved the career of a long list of pitchers in future years.
Today, Jobe’s breakthrough surgical procedure is known as Tommy John Surgery.
While horse racing does not have a surgery that bears the name of one of its famous runners, a case can be made that treatment for an entrapped epiglottis should be called “Alysheba Surgery.”
There could be no better poster boy for the benefits of the minor throat surgery that corrects breathing problems than the fabulous Alysheba.
Early in 1987, Alysheba was a…
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