Rare Hip Reconstruction Helps Glen Cove Woman Walk Again After Severe Pelvic Fracture

Leslie McCarthy had built her retirement around movement and community.. Before a devastating fall last spring, the 82-year-old former Connolly Elementary School teacher volunteered regularly at Northwell Glen Cove Hospital and visited the YMCA several times a week for cardio and strength classes. All of that stopped on May 14, when a simple morning routine changed everything.
“I tripped on one of the pillows,” McCarthy said. “I flew backwards and I fell like…a ton of bricks.” She landed hard and was immediately in agony. For days after the fall, she could only walk on the toes of her right foot, unable to bear weight. A CAT scan soon revealed the severity of the injury: she had fractured her pelvis, and osteoporosis had caused extensive damage to her hip socket.
Her case eventually made its way to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sreevathsa Boraiah, at Northwell Health, who specializes in complex hip reconstruction. He explained that when he saw her, “the pelvis had shifted, and that was a very complex situation because the hip was destroyed, and the fractures with the severe osteoporosis had shifted.” Fixing the break alone was not possible. “You cannot fix the fracture because she has so much osteoporosis, and it’s also moved out of position,” he said.
That cascade of complications — fracture, displacement, osteoporosis, and socket destruction — made McCarthy’s case rare and exceptionally difficult. “The only real options was to reconstruct the pelvis and the socket,” Boraiah said. “That could not be just done with regular implants because it’s not a regular hip replacement.” Instead, he designed a hybrid approach: simultaneously stabilizing the fracture while replacing the hip using a custom-made implant.
He worked with engineers to create a 3D printed model of McCarthy’s pelvis and titanium implant tailored exactly to her anatomy. “It just takes a lot of work, front-end work,” he said. “You have to be involved with the companies to develop a 3D printed model. It’s doable, it just takes a lot of work.”

Boraiah noted just how uncommon such surgery is. “In the last 10 years, I haven’t done anything like this with this custom implant, and I do a lot of hips,” he said. “It’s pretty rare.”
The surgery, performed in September, lasted three and a half hours. Recovery has been slow and determined, built around outpatient physical therapy and the stubborn discipline of a former teacher. Today, McCarthy can climb stairs again, walk independently and, after a follow-up visit this week, has been cleared to return to volunteering and the gym.
For Boraiah, the most remarkable part is not the technical feat — but the outcome.
“People who have fractures like this most of the times don’t return back to full function,” he said. “In her case, returning her back to full function to where she was, is I think pretty incredible.”
McCarthy feels the same way. “That’s the Christmas gift that I wanted for myself, to go back to being me,” she said.
In January, she plans to return to the YMCA. “I’m going to ease back into my exercise routine and I’m looking forward to it,” she said. The Y, she added, is more than a workout space. “It keeps you in shape. And it’s like a little family there.”
Boraiah said simply: she is walking proof of what careful planning, persistence, and advancing technology can do. Many patients with injuries like hers “end up in a wheelchair” or never regain independence. Instead, McCarthy is looking toward the next chapter — and the next class at the Y.