- An 80-year-old grandmother is water skiing again after two knee replacements.
- Her doctor said he does about 450 joint replacements each year, and the average age for a hip or knee replacement is 62.
- She wants to beat the record for oldest female water skier – currently held by a 92-year-old.
OCONOMOWOC, Wis. - Just a few years ago, an Oconomowoc grandmother couldn't even climb the stairs. Now, she's doing things most 80-year-olds would never dream of.
Two knee replacements
What they're sayingA surgery that Camille Maduscha once dreaded is now helping her, and thousands of others, stand tall.
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"You can see a gap in between the bones, that’s what the cartilage is," Dr. Tim Schnettler, an orthopedic surgeon with Aurora Health Care.
Maduscha was in bad shape when she met Schnettler. Arthritis had taken its toll on her left knee and, after injections didn’t work, she had a knee replacement in 2022.
"As time went on, I think what happened with the other knee, I depended on it so much in recovery that the arthritis started there," said Maduscha.
Maduscha had her right knee replaced in September 2023. She said both surgeries were painful, but she pushed through to get back to a hobby most people her age wouldn't touch: water skiing.
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"For me, it’s like flying," she said.
"That obviously is a great goal, not one that I often encounter," said Schnettler.
Maduscha started on water skis when she was 12 years old, and she’s been on the water ever since. That is, until arthritis kept her on land for more than a year.
"When I was water skiing with both legs when they were in bad shape, it hurt. It hurt so bad," she said.
By the numbersSchnettler said he does about 450 joint replacements each year, and the average age for a hip or knee replacement is 62.
U.S. Census data shows the number of people 65 and older in Wisconsin is now slightly higher than the national average. According to The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, the number of knee replacements in the U.S. will skyrocket by 673% by 2030.
New knees, new goal
What's nextNow that she’s back on her feet, Maduscha is ready to set new goals with new knees: She wants to beat the record for oldest female water skier – currently held by a 92-year-old.
"When you rest, you rust," she said.
Maduscha said she’ll be out on the lake through September, weather permitting, but no stunts or pyramids for her. She said she’s too old to risk it and just water skis to relax.
FOX6 News interviewed Maduscha and Schnettler, and referenced information from the U.S. Census, The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery and Guiness Book of World Records, for this story.
