​​​​​​​Jake Pettee lived with shoulder pain for over a decade.

He first injured his shoulder while serving in the Air Force. For 11 years, he lived with pain, limited mobility, and the constant fear that he might drop one of his daughters because he no longer trusted his shoulder to hold steady.

Quarterly injections, rehab, and “just managing” helped him get by for years. But by late 2024, the pain had worsened, and the damage was more severe. He knew it was time to think about a shoulder replacement.

What he needed was more than a procedure; it was a partner who could help him feel confident again. He found that in Paul Favorito, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon with The Christ Hospital Physicians – Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine​.

After reviewing Jake’s unique anatomy and severe bone loss, Dr. Favorito designed a highly customized plan using the latest techniques and implants that could restore function and stability.

The results? After more than a decade of shoulder pain and instability, nothing is holding Jake back. He’s able to confidently hold his daughters and reclaim the life he wanted. Find out exactly what that means to Jake in his own words.

Jake’s story in his own words

Jake: I couldn't believe it. I was stunned. I was like “there's no way.” I couldn't believe that I was a candidate at 37 years old for a shoulder replacement.

I joined the Air Force in 2007. A typical deployment for me - I would help get the cargo on the planes, get it to the deploy location, download it and then facilitate any movement therefore and after that and get our guys home.

It was a July day in 2013. I was on the back of a C-17 loading a big piece of cargo and it got stuck, and I felt my shoulder go out the back and dislocate pretty painfully.

I was pretty much down for the count. I had a sling on and took ibuprofen and had a hard time sleeping. I saw a surgeon, had my shoulder repaired, and I was getting steroid injections quarterly. I was kind of managing what I did to get through life, I guess.

It was definitely a long, long journey with pain, and I had to kind of calculate how I was going to do things that normally I didn't have to think about.

Not feeling 100 percent sure holding your kid, walking around afraid you're going to trip or lose grip of one of them because you know, I don't have the stability.

They pretty much told me you're going to need a shoulder replacement. You know, faced with having to make a decision about getting a shoulder replacement, what I was really looking for was not necessarily somebody who's like a Jack of all trades. I was looking for somebody who's mastered shoulder replacement and does a lot of shoulder replacements consistently.

Dr. Favorito's name kept coming up over and over and over again, and that's how I got to Christ and Dr. Favorito.

He really kind of walked through my anatomy, and I was 81 percent dislocated. Like, when I was losing bone, that was kind of the deciding factor.

Dr. Favorito: When we think about shoulder replacement in our younger patients, we would like to try to recreate the anatomy as best we can. So, we did some research looking at a specific type of component for shoulder replacement. And the way shoulders work is that you have metal on one side and plastic on the other side, and the plastic makes up for the new socket.

If you've had arthritis for a long period of time, you often lose some of the bone in your socket, and it's really important to have the ball and the socket properly oriented. If they're not properly oriented, you can have still pain, decreased range of motion, even a shoulder which will dislocate.

So essentially, what I've done is, I've begun using a product that will help reorient the socket properly. We take the humerus side, and we cut it and then we put in a new stem and a new metal piece. And then on the socket side, we put in a new piece of plastic.

This is our polyethylene component, similar to what we used for Jake, where we see the three peripheral pegs and the central post. But if you look at one side, there's no augment or build up, but if you look at the other side, there is.

So having something like this has the added benefit of providing that cushion that he needs and making up for the bone loss.

Jake: I had relief from my shoulder within like three weeks. It was amazing, I started feeling really good probably 10-12 weeks post-op. It was starting to really get back to feeling normal.

You know, I got the OK to start lifting stuff, doing more and picked up my girls and I was just amazed. I was pain free. The stability too, I think that was another thing I really wasn't expecting because I lived with a loose shoulder for 11 years.

I Feel like I got a new lease on my life thanks to Dr. Favorito and his team.

Dr. Favorito: The reality is that I'm here to improve someone's quality of life. Jake probably thinks he got the best gift, but I got a great one too because Jake's doing super well and that's what's important for us.