For anybody who doesn't know, the ACL is a ligament that runs cross-ways through the knee. It attaches on the lower leg bone, the tibia, and the upper leg bone, the femur. It stabilizes the knee by holding the tibia and preventing it from sliding forward. So if it snaps, the knee can be unstable and the bones will grind on the cartilage. Here's a couple of photos to show you what it looks like in the body:
In the reconstruction surgery, my surgeon put in an allograft that consisted of achilles heel from a donor. He also snipped out a piece of my medial meniscus cartilage where it was torn to help smooth it out and relieve any pain the torn flap was causing. Here's a diagram showing what surgeons do during ACL reconstruction:
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