Historic face transplant gives suicide survivor a 'second chance'
- 6 yıl önce
As Katie Stubblefield brushed her fingers across her face, she could feel the wound.
Her vision is greatly impaired due to her injury, but touching her face allowed her to feel what her doctors were working around the clock to treat. She could feel where her face was swollen. She could feel the portions that were missing.
That was before Katie, at 21, became the youngest person in the United States to receive a face transplant. The transplant, performed last year, aims to restore Katie's face structure and functions -- such as chewing, breathing and swallowing -- which were lost in a severe gunshot injury, the haunting outcome of a suicide attempt as a teenager.
Her vision is greatly impaired due to her injury, but touching her face allowed her to feel what her doctors were working around the clock to treat. She could feel where her face was swollen. She could feel the portions that were missing.
That was before Katie, at 21, became the youngest person in the United States to receive a face transplant. The transplant, performed last year, aims to restore Katie's face structure and functions -- such as chewing, breathing and swallowing -- which were lost in a severe gunshot injury, the haunting outcome of a suicide attempt as a teenager.