When Marine Corps veteran and longtime educator Nick Fischer salutes the flag this Veterans Day, he’ll do so standing on both legs — thanks to a remarkable surgical effort by St. Luke’s Orthopedic Care.
In July 2023, Fischer, a former Easton Area High School teacher and Dieruff High School assistant principal, faced surgery for a large sarcoma — a rare and aggressive form of cancer — that had stretched the entire length of his left calf. He went into the operating room uncertain whether he would wake up with his leg intact.
That day, Dr. Justin Miller, St. Luke’s orthopedic oncologist and the only specialist of his kind in the Lehigh Valley, successfully removed the tumor while preserving the blood vessels needed to maintain Fischer’s leg function and avoid amputation…