THE VILLAGES - Jan Washburn has jumped out of planes, bungee-jumped, climbed rock walls and surfed in Hawaii and never been injured, but that's not to say she hasn't had her share of aches and pains from other sports.
Washburn is returning to the sports arena after recovering from an injury to her anterior cruciate ligament and lateral meniscus. She suffered the injury playing basketball in the Senior Games during December 2004.
”Coming back from injuries is nothing new for me," Washburn said. ”When I moved to The Villages in 1998, I was a totally healthy 48-year-old. I turned 50 and that all changed."
In the last four years, Washburn - in addition to her knee injuries - has suffered a concussion playing flag football, fractured her left thumb playing sand volleyball, fractured her left foot playing pickleball, received some bruises and lost some skin in a roller-blading accident, broke her left elbow, fractured her right hand playing softball and suffered a second concussion in a golf cart accident on the golf course.
Washburn has sold her roller blades, but is back playing softball, pickleball, golf and badminton and plans to return to tennis after having had some radical surgery on her knee. The surgery included using an allograft patella tendon from a cadaver and lateral meniscus repair. Cadaver-tendon replacement is usually performed on younger people.
”His vote was to go with it. I put my faith in his hands," she said. ”I was determined to get back in six months instead of a year that it would have taken with other options. He did the work and it turned out OK."
Nicknamed Perky by her softball teammates, Washburn plays in the women's recreation league, the Neighborhood League, the Tri-County League and for the Village Vixens. She also recently played in a weeknight league in Belleview.
”One of my incentives during rehabilitation was to be able to play in the Winter Nationals in Fort Myers during November with the Vixens," Washburn said.
”I have to give him a lot of credit for my rehab and my return to sports," she said. ”When I didn't think I could do it, he talked me into doing it."
It would take more than a major injury and surgery to slow Washburn down. She and three of her softball buddies recently returned from a week on a dude ranch in Cody, Wyo.
”That was another incentive. I knew if I was going to ride horses, I had to get my knee well," Washburn said. ”We rode horses, river-rafted, went flyfishing and played softball against the ranch hands."
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