Suicide survivor gets second chance at life through facial transplant surgery
30 replies, posted
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45201929
Katie Stubblefield was only 18 when she was severely injured by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Her life was saved in hospital, but the young woman had life-changing injuries and had
lost most of her face.
Now 22, the youngest US recipient of a face transplant has shared the results of several years of exhaustive reconstructive surgery with National Geographic magazine. The
publication was given unprecedented access by an Ohio clinic which operated on Katie when she was just 21.A journalist and photographers followed her preparation and the results
from the invasive 31-hour procedure.
The Story of a Face is on the cover of the magazine's September issue, and Katie's story is also told in a documentary online. There have only been 40 recipients of a face transplant
throughout the world. The first full-face procedure was successfully carried out by Spanish doctors in 2010. But because surgery is still considered experimental, it is not covered by
US insurance providers.
Katie's surgery was eventually funded by the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which wants to improve treatment of military personnel who are injured at war. Katie,
now 22, was deemed a good candidate because of her age and the nature of the injuries she had sustained. The transplanted face came from 31-year-old Adrea Schneider, who died
from a drug overdose in 2017.
She was already an organ donor, but the decision to donate her face came from her grandmother, Sandra Bennington, who has since met Katie following the surgery.
Katie says she cannot remember much about the period before her suicide attempt, but family say she had been struggling emotionally with moving around, a failed relationship and
chronic gastrointestinal health problems throughout her teens.
The bullet wound destroyed much of her face - including her nose, some of her forehead and jawbone. She also had brain injuries and significant damage to her eyes.
Before the transplant, Katie had already undergone 22 reconstructive surgeries, including using her thigh and 3D printing to help reconstruct her jaw. She and her family say they did
not even know what the procedure entailed when they were notified she could be eligible.
"I had no clue what a face transplant was," Katie said. "When my parents helped explain everything to me, I was very excited to get a face again and to have function again."
After a year on the transplant list and having two donors fall through, she eventually underwent the procedure in May 2017.
Katie still has difficulty speaking because of the damage done to her mouth. She will have to take medication for the rest of her life to reduce the risk of transplant rejection.
The young woman told National Geographic she hopes to go to college and eventually go into counselling. She has also expressed an interest in speaking to teenagers about suicide
and the value of life. "So many people have helped me; now I want to help other people," she said.
What the fuck did she shoot herself with that completely shredded her face like that?
A shotgun is a violent and brutal weapon at a distance alone
Not sure of THAT's what was used, but it's possible.
Any 'normal' gun alone is already pretty bad really
I assume a shotgun pointed upwards rather than at her skull
I'll be honest, I have conflicting feelings on whether this was the better outcome for her... :S
Put a heavy bet on shotgun, birdshot and buckshot fucks up anything it comes into contact with.
Then again a .45 pistol or your usual AR can do that level of damage at point blank considering it was a suicide attempt.
Eitherway this is quite the breakthrough, facial transplants have been a moving progress for quite a while now.
I recommend reading through the National Geographic article linked within the BBC one, it's got some nasty surgery pictures but it paints a more whole picture.
Apparently the girl was 105 pounds, so she was pretty tiny. That might affect how much damage was done
Apparently it was a .308 rifle.
fucken hell the nat geo pic of the face sitting on the table
spooky
I wish people had more empathy for those they don't know. All I have to do is read the article to feel something for this woman, but I suppose I am in the minority.
Why are transplanted and 'fixed' faces, such as surgery after acid attacks, much more larger and bumpy than the origional structure of the face?
Surely they'd be smaller due to how much is lost during whatever injury occurs?
Don't forget that this woman had to have much of her jaw reconstructed
just saw the aftermath pic of the rifle wound
now i understand fuck me
Worth reading the natgeo article, goes into so much detail about what happened to her to the degree I really do feel sorry for her, her whole world just got ripped to bits and piled on.
To make it worse it was her brothers rifle, god knows how he felt after seeing what happened.
There's also usually a lot of swelling.
I'm happy she found the strength to carry on, I can't say I would have the same resolve
Considering the damage before, this is an absolutely incredible and amazing job. I hope she has a much happier life from now on.
Damn that was a good and extensive article, didn't read the whole article, but its amazing how far we've come.
The photo of all the doctors staring at the face felt like a renaissance photo
The gasses and muzzle-blast of any significant round would be enough to do that kind of damage alone-- the round itself is just bonus damage.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/108633/0b5613b9-b147-4135-936a-d505affe07bc/image.png
the true AccidentalRenaissance candidate
Considering the medicine of the time, that's actually fucking amazing, but I can't help but scream out that someone needs to make a horror game based on this because holy fuck that's still terrifying....
Most of the splicers in Bioshock were based on Gillies' surgical photos. The top right here is a photomanip of one of Gillies' more severe patients:
https://2static1.fjcdn.com/comments/Thaaats+a+splicer+_736e223c4a0e68ec7ac86c91d74b18c5.jpg
holy moses i know i should have expected it, but there should be a warning before the articles regarding the pictures.
I didn't even realize this was a real photograph at first, it looks like an oil painting
fucking tremendous photo.
I apologize for the way my original post sounded, I feel horribly for this poor woman, I was asking simply out of curiosity what would have warranted a complete facial transplant.
I didn't mean to sound.. well, like a dick.
It IS a paintover iirc, but this is the original. This is Lieutenant Henry Lumley. I've cropped out his immediate post-accident photos for your sanity's sake. IIRC he was caught in a hideous vehicle fire.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/229956/3ed4dcc6-29ff-4604-924e-1292042edcb0/Clipboard2121.jpg
He meant the picture of the family, not the Bioshock splicer lol.
woops, it said someone quoted me and jumped me down to that post.
That was amuzing to read - and a very thorough article. She must regret not dying that day.
Swelling. You'll typically only see photos a few weeks after they get the surgery while it's still swollen.
https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2012/10/18/e6301777-c3b3-11e2-a43e-02911869d855/resize/620x465/55032d0902ef45104558483cbfb38b7e/face-transplant.jpg
https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/transplant.jpg
There's also the fact that you're essentially slapping a face onto a different bone structure. Not everything is gonna fit perfectly.
2nd chance at life, I can't see it being that easy of one, assuming you don't ignore people around you when you're outside.
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