THOMASVILLE — For almost two years, Ryan Stuart woke up every morning not knowing why he was in pain.

An odyssey of visits to numerous doctors and specialists left him with no answers until he finally met his “medical savior,” Dr. Tim Schrader of non-profit organization Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Orthopaedic Hip Program.

“In one office visit and one X-ray, he had it figured out and knew what needed to be done,” Stuart said. “I was diagnosed with semoroacetabular impingement, otherwise known as SAI.

“The ball part of my hip did not have a neck like it should so it just went straight back and was not able to rotate fully in the socket; instead it ground against the socket wall.”

Schrader, in a phone interview, said Ryan seemed like a happy-go-lucky kid and an athlete who was in pain.

“He’d been told all kinds of things, but he kept looking for answers. In Ryan’s condition, when the ball and socket joints rub together, the cartilage is rubbed and this causes pain, stiffness and damage.”

Stuart, 18, of Coolidge, always wanted to play football, baseball and other sports, and he was good at it; he was a catcher and an offensive lineman.

Stuart played sports in middle school, but experienced pain, loss of flexibility and a grinding feeling in his hips.

He thought it was normal because of the positions he played, but a doctor recommended he take a year to rest and Ryan reluctantly agreed.

The pain persisted and he went to a variety of doctors in different states, but no one could figure it out. It was even suggested to the teen that the pain was all in his head.

“I was tested for lupus, arthritis and other things, but no one could find anything orthopedic. The best they could say was I might have rheumatoid arthritis.”

Stuart went out for summer sports before his sophomore year, but still had pain. He visited a specialist in Atlanta and was told he could not play during the regular football season.

“That was a blow,” he said.

His mother Beth said, with her son was on various medications and taking injections, his situation was not getting better and the doctors reran all the tests.

“It was a lot of aggravation and frustration, every time we got inconclusive results,” she said. “The number of trips we took to Atlanta, a lot of times twice a week, was very draining on both of us.”

Doctors found what they thought to be tumors on Ryan’s bones, but these turned out to be blood lesions.

Finally, Ryan was referred to Schrader, who made the diagnosis and informed the teen he needed surgery on each hip to correct the SAI problem.

“At first, I thought ‘I don’t need hips, we’re good,’” Stuart admitted. “Dr. Schrader told me if I did not have this surgery, by the time I was 20-25, I would need both of my hips replaced and would have to replace them every 10 years. That said, I figured I needed to salvage the rest of my life.”

The procedure, according to an organization news release, included a surgical dislocation of the hip, then the hip socket was trimmed to fit the top end of the thigh bone, or femur, which was altered to fit.

“Treatment involves an operation where the muscles are moved away from the hip, the ball is popped out of the socket to see it clearly, excess bone is trimmed away from the socket to give it more room, the hip is put back together and checked for normal mobility and socket movement, and the muscles are replaced,” Schrader said.

Ryan’s first surgery was in the summer of 2007; his second in the summer of 2008.

He was instructed to spend two months in a wheelchair and was not allowed to put any weight on his joints; then, he had a month with a cane. Home physical therapy was also part of the recovery process.

Schrader has performed 20 such operations and believes it is a good way to allow patients to regain their mobility. He is glad to have been able to help Ryan.

“He was in pain for a long time. I’m glad he’s back doing sports and is pain free. I like the results of his X-rays as well.”

Though he was unable to actively participate in sports during his recovery, Stuart was allowed to be an athletic trainer on the sidelines.

Beth said the hardest part was seeing her child in pain and having to give up his dream.

“It’s a hard thing to watch as a parent and you feel this huge sense of helplessness, but we held each other up through it all.”

Ryan said the “not-knowing” was the hardest part of his ordeal, but it taught him to never give up, even when he was at his lowest.

“I got to the point where I thought, ‘just forget it, I’ll hurt,’ but don’t quit things. Never give up, especially when you’re young and even if the answer is not the one you want to hear. You’ve got to find out. That is what we kept doing.”

He thanked his parents, siblings and friends for their support during the tough times.

Ryan was able to wrestle for the Thomas County Yellow Jackets his senior year and was an athletic trainer for the football, soccer and wrestling teams.

“It is great to be back to exercising pretty regularly; I was not better in time to play football, but I did get cleared just in time to wrestle, so I was able to participate in some kind of sport.”

Stuart has turned one of the worst times of his life into something positive: he graduated with honors from TCCHS in May and is headed to the University of Alabama, where he will study sports medicine.

“At first, I thought it was something that might be fixed soon and I could jump back in, but after I found out it was not going to be so quick, I decided that a trainer could be a really good career. I would understand if someone got hurt because I have been there.”

Stuart encouraged others who may be facing a health problem the doctors cannot diagnose to keep the faith.

“You get tired and want to stop, but you gotta know because maybe it is something you can fix and not have to live with for the rest of your life. You just have to persist and pray.”