Jeffrey Wisnoski was born to be on his feet. But his bilateral club feet didn’t get the memo.
Within hours of his birth 48 years ago, doctors put his feet in casts, and at three months, started a series of surgeries and procedures that would span five decades to correct Wisnoski’s feet that turned upward—essentially upside down.
Doctors untangled the mess that was Wisnoski’s feet, restructured bones, inserted all sorts of pins. But it worked—for the most part.
“As I recovered from that, I lived basically a normal life,” Wisnoski told lehighvalleylive.com. “I had some pain standing still; waiting in line was never a good thing. I was better at walking than standing.”
Throughout his childhood and early adult years, Wisnoski, who leads the Pack 368 Cub Scouts of Hanover Township, Northampton County, took on every outdoor adventure he could: hiking, snowboarding, swimming, rock climbing.
“But my whole life I had to weigh the value of the experience versus the pain I would endure,” he said.
For example, when he was 28, he hiked Mount Washington in New Hampshire. But in order to justify the inevitable pain that would come and go during the activity (left foot) and for a prolonged period of time after (right foot), it couldn’t just be the hike.
“I had to do it during a meteor shower,” he said. Which he did, camping under the Perseid shower, and paying for it in pain later.
Wisnoski, who’s married with two young sons in Scouts, knew that eventually he’d have to consider more surgery and possibly amputation. But he promised himself he would put that off for as long as possible, until the pain was unbearable, until he had to stop doing the activities he loved most.
That time came in 2012. His wife, Beth, noticed he just “wasn’t doing stuff,” he said. In early 2013, Wisnoski underwent a surgery that would fuse the major joints in his right foot. Although the surgery would relieve the foot pain, over time, it would start to screw up Wisnoski’s knee, ankle, and hip—a problem for future Wisnoski.
He came out of surgery and immediately knew something wasn’t right. The pain was unimaginable. A few months later, their first son was born. In tears, Wisnoski described how he’d rocked in the chair at his son’s daycare, knowing another major surgery was inevitable.
Before their son turned one year old, Wisnoski underwent a second surgery on his right foot.
This time, it worked.
“Instantly, I was better. It felt perfect. I bought new shoes,” Wisnoski recalled, his voice catching. “Flat, solid color, nice texture. We celebrated.”
Looming decision
Jeffrey Wisnoski, who’s married with two young sons in Scouts, remains an avid outdoors enthusiast.Donna Fisher | lehighvalleylive.
Life went on, but Wisnoski knew he’d have to undergo the surgery on his left foot. They’d just had another baby boy, and he wanted to wait until the baby was a little older. So when their youngest was about a year old, Wisnoski had his left foot fused.
More pain. More doctors. More questions. More procedures. Eventually Wisnoski found himself with an ankle expert who treated the Philadelphia Eagles and the Flyers and the Phillies. He underwent an ankle replacement. More pain. More surgeries.
Over the course of five years, Wisnoski had nine surgeries on his left foot.
“My deductible is met after the first surgery. The next two that year were free,” he joked.
He had little kids. A demanding job in healthcare. It was time, he thought, to cut his losses. Or in this case, his foot.
“I couldn’t do it. I was in too much pain,” Wisnoski said. “I’d be crippled [from pain].”
Because the surgery, which would be the 10th on his left foot, wasn’t an emergency, Wisnoski was able to spend hours and hours researching the process, the surgeons, the prosthetics. “It was a scary decision,” he said. “Was I jumping out of a frying pan into the fryer?”
Wisnoski sought guidance from two amputees; including a veteran with whom he’d grown up, who’d lost his leg in an explosion in Afghanistan. “He told me it really wasn’t a big deal,” Wisnoski recalled.
A birthday gift
Jeffrey Wisnoski’s prosthetic foot is incredibly resilient. It has to be because its wearer is incredibly resilient.Donna Fisher | lehighvalleylive.
So, for Wisnoski’s 46th birthday, in November 2023, his present was “to get my leg cut off.” But not before, in true outdoorsmen fashion, he hosted a bonfire. With friends and family, Wisnoski tossed toothpicks into the flames, each one depicting a memory he had with his left foot. Wisnoski wiped away tears recalling the bonfire.
“I marched more than 10 miles in the Rose Bowl Parade in high school, I hiked Mount Washington, I led high-exposure gunks [rock climbing in the Shawangunk Ridge area] … thing after thing went into the fire. I cried a lot.”
The surgery went exactly as planned. Wisnoski was eager to start recovery, to try out his new foot—a prosthetic he calls his “Jeff-proof foot.” It’s waterproof, and it can take a beating. Over the last two years, Wisnoski has canoed and hiked (his requirements for what a post-surgery success would look like), snowboarded, rock climbed, body surfed, mountain biked, jack-knifed off the diving board.
“This summer, at Cub Scout camp, I went into the lake,” he said. “My foot was perfectly adequate.”
And, Wisnoski has learned, his friend was right: Having a prosthetic isn’t a big deal for him. He wakes up, uses a hands-free crutch, which he calls his peg leg, to move about the bathroom, then puts on his prosthetic, goes about his day and then takes it off at night. He doesn’t think about it.
Wisnoski’s prosthetic foot is incredibly resilient. It has to be because its wearer is incredibly resilient.
“I’m a driven person,” he said. “I refuse to give up on things, sometimes to my own detriment.”
He talked of a magazine to which he used to subscribe, Latitudes and Attitudes, that said “the difference between an ordeal and an adventure is attitude.”
“I live by that,” Wisnoski said. “It can be raining, so put on a raincoat and go dancing in the rain.”
Wisnoski owns a small sailboat called “Limb(it)less.” He needs help with the font design; he wants a pirate font, the “L” a prosthetic leg. He’s a dad of two and Cubmaster of many who wants his kids to see resilience, have resilience. And to see that people are different. Everyone has a story, something they’re walking through, burdens they’re carrying.
“Don’t let that circumstance define you,” he said. “Don’t let people tell you you can’t.”