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Journalism of Courage
A 21-year-old Katie Stubblefield is now the youngest person to have received a face transplant in the US. Stubblefield was only 18 when she attempted suicide with a gun back in 2014. Though she survived the gunshot, the wound disfigured a large portion of her face, reported The Independent.
Stubblefield underwent over 20 reconstruction surgeries and several psychological evaluations over the past four years before the facial transplant in May last year. Her story was first shared in National Geographic’s September cover story after which a video of Stubblefield’s recovery and new life was also released.
Watch the video here: (Viewers discretion is advised).
“I’m able to touch my face now, and it feels amazing,” she said in an interview with National Geographic. In May 2017, Stubblefield underwent a 31-hour transplant after she found a match in a 31-year-old donor Adrea Schneider. According to a Time report, Dr Brian Gastman, a plastic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic along with his team worked to attach Schneider’s face to Stubblefield. She received a new forehead, cheeks, mouth and lips, nose, eye sockets, upper and lower eyelids, upper jaw and as well as a portion of the lower jaw, along with teeth and facial muscles.
According to the report, Stubblefield’s surgery was conducted at the Cleveland Clinic with the help of virtual reality, 3D printing and several surgeons to make it successful. The surgery expenses were paid by a grant from the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, that aim to create new transplant operation for the military. Stubblefield is now one of the 40 people in the entire world to have received a face transplant.
