Sixteen hours into a transplant operation at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, surgeons finish the intricate task of removing the face from an organ donor. Awed by the sight and by the gravity of their work, the team falls suddenly silent as staff members document the face in between its two lives. The surgeons would spend 15 more hours attaching the face to Katie Stubblefield.
Katie, 22,who attempted suicide by shooting herself in the face when she was 18 has successfully undergone a facial transplant. She had 22 operations before becoming the youngest person ever to undergo a facial transplant in the US at the age of 21 last year. She is the 40th person in the world to be given a face transplant. She shot herself in the face in March 2014 after her parents lost their jobs and her boyfriend dumped her and left her for another girl.
Doctors said she would not survive but she did, though her face became deformed. Katie has now spoken candidly about the operation and her recuperation has been positive, which means she can now breathe, chew and swallow unaided. She hopes her story will inspire others not to try to end their lives. The surgery was made possible after her face was replaced with that of a registered donor who died of a drug overdose. She still doesn’t have her full vision back and is soon having a procedure to get a new palate, which will improve her speech. The last picture shows Katie before the tragedy.
Credit: National Geographic’s website.