Ever since his first ride at the age of 11, Thomas Phillips has loved the feeling of getting on a motorcycle and taking off down a winding country road.

Last summer, he feared he might never experience that feeling again.

It started with what Thomas thought was just a minor cut on his left foot. Several weeks later, he became alarmed when the wound worsened and his toes started to turn green. A trip to the Emergency Department near his home in Newark confirmed his worst fears: He had gangrene and cellulitis, and his toes would need to be amputated.

"They scheduled the surgery to remove my toes for the following day," said Thomas, 73. "The doctor told me they would eventually have to take my leg off below the knee, and then above the knee later."

The prognosis was a blow to Thomas and his fiancée, Glenna Lee, who both lead active lifestyles. "I couldn’t accept the fact that he was going to lose his leg, I just couldn’t," Glenna said.

Thomas and Glenna’s determination led them to seek a second opinion at the Wound Clinic at Fairfield Medical Center, which specializes in healing chronic wounds. Through the clinic, the couple found hope for their situation with the help of four physicians – Andrew Murry, M.D., C.W.S, F.A.C.P., assistant medical director for infection control; vascular surgeon Krishna Mannava, M.D.; podiatrist Animesh Bhatia, D.P.M.; and podiatrist Christopher Walker, D.P.M.

"Dr. Murry listened to my story and said, ‘we can fix you’," Thomas said.

The Wound Clinic provides a team-based approach to coordinate a spectrum of care for each patient.

"We pull from a variety of disciplines to build a team with experience in nursing care, infectious diseases, wound care and vascular surgery," Dr. Murry said.

Following his first appointment with Dr. Murry at the Wound Clinic, Thomas underwent a bypass procedure in which Dr. Mannava removed the build-up of plaque in his leg to restore blood flow. He was then sent to Dr. Walker, who did negative-pressure wound therapy, a process in which a vacuum dressing is used to heal the wound. Thomas also started seeing podiatrist Dr. Bhatia for skin graft treatments.

Within weeks, Thomas was no longer in pain – and no longer in danger of losing his leg.

"What amazes me is the doctors at the Wound Clinic don’t say, ‘let’s try this,’ or ‘let’s see if this will work’." Glenna said. "They say, ‘this is what I’m going to do.’ And case closed, that’s what we do. And then he gets fabulous results."

Thomas and Glenna said once Thomas’ wound is completely healed, there will be nothing holding them back from their active lifestyle – which is certain to include many motorcycle rides.

"We can’t change the past, but the good thing is we found these four doctors," Glenna said. "Now the future is looking a whole lot brighter."

Watch Thomas’ story at http://youtube.com/fmchealth