Just months after logging his best 10K road race in 15 years, Stephen Schuit began to experience significant knee pain.

Steve, an active jogger, biker, and hiker, teaches English at a university in Korea. Despite the best efforts of doctors there, he was still in pain when he returned to Maine for the summer.

Fate stepped in when Steve’s wife, Marsha, met Allyson Howe, M.D., a physician in InterMed’s Sports Medicine department, at the annual Tri for a Cure fundraiser. Steve scheduled an appointment the next day.

Turns out, Steve had multiple issues with his knee, including a tear in his meniscus and an area of the bone that wasn’t regenerating tissue. Dr. Howe drained fluid from the knee, then prescribed physical therapy, combined with a series of injections to help lubricate the joint.

After experiencing nearly constant pain, Steve is now pain free, and resuming his physical activity.

“I spent 8 weeks trying to get a correct diagnosis,” he says, “and I got it here at InterMed.”

Despite living much of the year in Korea, Steve remains a loyal InterMed patient. “The doctors listen and try to understand things from the patient’s view. They’re genuine.”

On the road to recovery, Steve and Marsha plan to check a major item off their bucket list: walking the Camino de Santiago, a 40-day, 500-mile pilgrimage that starts near the France-Spain border and finishes at the tomb of St. James (Santiago in Spanish) in northwest Spain.

Thanks to Dr. Howe and her team, they are well on their way.