The operation itself was two years ago, but then it's taken 2 years of physical therapy (and just healing time...) before it's become clear how successful it wa

The operation itself was two years ago, but then it's taken 2 years of physical therapy (and just healing time...) before it's become clear how successful it was. So there's no single moment when this becomes "newsworthy"; but I'd assume that as of recently, the patient is walking at a level that's sufficiently impressive for a newscast, and so today's the day.