And now he's Walter from "The Big Lebowski".
Posted on 05/10/2011 3:27:23 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB
Dallas Wiens, 26, of Texas, who had previously come to terms with a vastly deformative injury which virtually erased his face, expressed gratitude to the family of his new face's donor and doctors remarked on his transformation as he made his first public appearance after becoming the first recipient of a full facial transplant in the United States. Most of Wiens' face was burned off during an electrical accident in 2008 in Fort Worth. He was working on a cherry picker, finishing a painting job at Ridglea Baptist Church, when the machine hit a power line. He awoke from a coma three months later.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
And now he's Walter from "The Big Lebowski".
No reason to start dipping tobacco though.
The Dude Abides.
good for him.
Sumbitch... it IS Walter !
AMAZING
I was thinking about getting one of those transplants, but the donor kept objecting.
Amazing.
They were just trying to save face.
Verdict is still out for me on this. Granted, I have a “normal” face, but I’m curious as to the long-term psychological effects of a surgery like this. Certainly this man’s face was, for lack of a better word, non-existent prior to the transplant, but I’m curious as to his feelings about his new face. From the looks of it, he lost his eyes in the accident, so this is really for outward appearances more than anything else. Does the transplanted face eventually “normalize” or will there always be droops and pockets of unusual-looking skin?
Please don’t mistake my intent here. The ghastly image of a faceless man is absolutely nothing compared to the somewhat odd-looking transplanted face, but we’ve yet to really study the long-term psychological and physiological effects of these types of surgeries.
God bless him and see him through what I’m sure are very trying times.
SHOMER SHABBAS!</walter>
Interesting. I'd translate the doctor's name from Czech as "God-given Helper". How appropriate.
The poor soul probably would have settled for just about anything other than his disfigurement. Breaks the heat to think of having to go through life like that.
There was a young man who lived in my city neighborhood who had been terribly disfigured in a fire. His face was really quite a mess, his nose gone - just tragic. I did not know him personally but he always tried to cover up his head when he was outside his home. No way to live but one can imagine the unkind reactions he had from folks. These new procedures will really change lifes.
I direct you to the before and after photos.
I don’t understand how you can say “the verdict is still out” for you on this.
What exactly is it that you question?
That he can now smell and feel sensation on his face?
That he now has a face at all?
I’m curious as to why you would be concerned about the long term psychological effects of the corrective surgery, and not the mans original disfigurement.
Praise God. I pray this man knows how much God loves him.
It will take me many years to pay off my insurance deductible, and my portion of medical co-payments, but I am able to pay for the radiology treatments required to keep a nose on my face.
I am extremely fortunate in that my particular skin cancer is curable, that I have health insurance that will pay for 80% of the charges, and that I was able to adjust my work schedule to come in early, and make up the time required for my scheduled daily treatments.
All that money and effort just to save my nose!
Sorry, momma, I wasn’t trying to incite your ire.
Think of it this way: if you were horribly disfigured from an accident and had another person’s body part placed on you to replace or repair that part of your body, wouldn’t it be a real brain bender to think, “This is me, but it isn’t.”
This is probably just my over-analytical mind extending this out to illogical extremes, but I can’t imagine this for myself. The man obviously cannot see given that his eyes were burned out, so this is something for him to feel better about his outward appearance. Where do you read that he can smell and feel sensation? Just curious. I didn’t know that was something that was repaired.
For instance, I cut off the tip of my thumb a few years ago in a kitchen accident, and to this day, I still have very little feeling in my thumb. It’s like a numbness that never goes away. I cannot, in my wildest dreams, imagine how I would react if my entire face felt that way. Just wow.
So no, the original disfigurement is obviously horrific, I’ll never question that. However, I would love to have this man sit on my couch to discuss the psychological impacts of this surgery. Sure it’s a game changer in the short term, but as he becomes accustomed to it, wouldn’t he think, “God bless this person for giving me the chance for a normal life,” and then living life through that person’s visage. It’s just all very cerebrally overwhelming.
I suspect there was a hosts of interviews with various psyc. people before this proceedure was a go. Imagine also he has ahad several since his first loosing his face to this happening. So no, I don’t think there’s a psyc issue for him...rather I imagine moreso an issue had this not been done. Hope has a way of touching ones very soul...this man had hope his face would be restored to the look of humanity...pretty amazing whaat they have done there and I’m sure some minor adjustments to follow. But even without any...it’s amazing truly!
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