After living with shoulder and knee pain for over a year, Hilton Head resident Nicol Rapolo found real relief at Fraum Health without surgery, stitches, or long recovery times. Hear how regenerative treatments and compassionate care helped her avoid invasive procedures and return to the active life she loves, including biking 20 miles a day on a dream trip in Croatia.
My name is Nicole Rapolo and I live here on Hilton Head Island. I’ve been a resident of the island for about four years. I’ve been a patient here at From for about 2 years. I first heard about from with Dr. H. She spoke to the Chamber of Commerce leadership program and I heard her speak and I said, “This woman can help me.” The first time that I came to the prom center was for my shoulder. I had a near hit with a car on my bicycle and I avoided the car at my expense and I fell off my bike and I did not go to the emergency room because I thought, oh, this was, you know, nothing. So, for almost a year and a half, I kind of lived with that pain and said, it’ll get better. It’ll get better. It’ll get better. A year and a half later, it never got better. And then I had met Dr. H through that session and I said, I’ve got to go and check this out. This sounds really good. It’s just amazing what she did with my shoulder. And then my second go around, I said, I can no longer stand the pain in my knee. And I said, you know, Dr. H, you helped me with my shoulder. We’ve got to do something here. And Dr. age said, “Come into the office and we’ll do some more stem cells.” And I it was amazing. 2 and 1/2 months later, I have no pain. The support here from the entire team is very unlike other places that you go. It’s a tremendously caring, kind staff, accommodating, empathetic. The best part of my experience here is that it really works. And what I like or love about it, it’s more of a natural approach to healing. Had I gone to the emergency room for my shoulder the day I fell off that bike, I would have had a plate or a rod or something. I would have had major surgery in my shoulder. I didn’t need to have that. And for my knee, had I gone to another doctor, the same thing would have happened. So the approach to health here fits my lifestyle. I say before you go into surgery, you’ve got to go over there and talk to the center and get yourself educated about a very different type of healthcare. You’re not cutting into my skin. You know, I don’t have stitches. I didn’t have a six week recovery on crutches in a walk or in a cane. So, you know, I say to a lot of people, you owe it to yourself to just come and check it out. My goal is to stay healthy and to get healthier and healthier. When I came here for my knee, I knew that Dr. H could help me, and my big goal was to be ready to to go on our 7-day bike sail cruise in Croatia. So that was prime in my mind. But I also realized that my bedroom is on the second floor. I couldn’t climb a flight of stairs. I go to church. I couldn’t kneel because of the pain. And I remember Dalton saying to me the first time that I had my shoulder treatment that it might be uncomfortable, but trust me, you’ll get better. It’ll get better. And in two months, I was jumping up and down my 17 stairs. I’m kneeling at church. And we had a successful 20 mile bike ride a day, seven days in Croatia. Thank you, Dr. H and team and team.