By Dick Jerardi
John Servis was in Charles Town, West Virginia in the first few days of February to visit his wife Sherry’s mother in the hospital when the pain in the back of right knee, which had been bothering him for months, was apparently pulled down by gravity into his shin and ankle area.
John remembers Sherry saying, “we’re here right now, go get it checked out, that’s not normal.”
It turned out it was not normal at all. After John got an X-ray, an ultrasound and an MRI, it was discovered that he had an aneurism, specifically a “popliteal aneurism” defined as a “ballooned-out part of your popliteal artery which is behind the knee.”
When Servis heard the word “aneurism” he reacted exactly as any of us would have: “Scared the bleep out of me,” he said.
He was in a small hospital in Charles Town. It was suggested he be moved a few hours to the West Virginia University Hospital in Morgantown for surgery.
Before agreeing, Servis called Dr. Lou Bucky of Main Line Racing Stables, one of his main clients. Servis relayed everything that had happened, and Dr. Bucky, according to Servis, “was like ‘hold on a minute.'”
He wanted to speak with Servis’s doctor in Charles Town. After they spoke, Dr. Bucky asked Servis if he could drive. When Servis said he could, Dr. Bucky said he wanted Servis to drive home. Dr. Bucky made some calls, and Servis was in surgery the next day at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
“He’s like a saint, he really is,” Servis said of Dr. Bucky.
Servis went in for an “angioplasty to try to dissolve the blood clot.” He was under for around 2 1/2 hours. When he was in recovery, he was told by his vascular surgeon “unfortunately it’s too big, it’s 3 1/2 centimeters, which is huge. I couldn’t get it to dissolve.”
So Servis had to undergo bypass surgery the next day. He had to lay on his back for eight hours overnight. The second surgery was 5 1/2 hours. It was a success.
“I was determined,” Servis said. “I’m like ‘I beat a freakin aneurism. I’m going to work my ass off to get better.'”
He followed the precise orders and was getting better while working from home. He was scheduled for a follow-up ultrasound in late February, which just happened to be right after the second giant snowstorm of 2026. He was told by Dr. Bucky to get to Frankford-Torresdale Hospital if at all possible because getting ultrasound appointments are so difficult.
The ultrasound appeared to show some vein abnormalities so Servis had to go back to Penn for another surgery. It turned out there were no abnormalities, just a false alarm.
Servis was away from the track for three weeks. He is back now and grateful to be there,
“I’m 95 (percent).” Servis said. “I got to watch if I’m on my feet too much, my leg swells up pretty good. I’ve got to wear one of those compression socks for a while.”
He can handle all that, but is certainly glad he confided in his wife.
“My knee had been bugging me, had a little bit of swelling here and there, but didn’t think a lot about it,” Servis said. “My mind started going like I knew something wasn’t right.”
When he told Sherry about what he was feeling, she knew it wasn’t right and said: “if it was one of your horses, you’d have five vets look at it.”
Sherry’s advice prevailed. Servis went to get diagnosed, then, with the great aid of Dr. Bucky, got the help he needed, even if there were a few stops and starts along the way.
It was suggested that the aneurysm may have happened because of an old injury, but his veins look good now. He has a follow-up appointment Monday. He is not running, but “I walk my development every day. I’m not 100 percent in my stride, but I’m pretty damn close.”
It was a very scary time, but Servis is not looking back.
“I’m doing good,” he said.
And, for that, we can all be thankful.
