Iva's Story
Iva Belvin struggled with pain in her knee for a long, long time, she said.
Her husband "was so bad off," suffering from mini-strikes and often bedridden, that Iva put off any surgery for herself because "I just couldn't leave him even if I needed surgery myself."
When Iva's husband died, she turned to Dr. Barbaro Perez.
"He said my knee was about as bad as he'd ever seen, just bone on bone."
Dr. Perez did a total knee replacement for Iva and now "I'm real proud of my knee because it doesn't hurt anymore. I got real lucky with Dr. Perez. Gloucester County got real lucky with Dr. Perez. He just has a way about him that most doctors don't have."
Today, three years after her surgery and inpatient rehabilitation at Heron Cove at Sanders, Iva is making her own life again. She misses her husband deeply, but refuses "to sit around and mope all day."
After all, she has a new knee that's pain free and she intends to use it.