"Here I received a new face and two hands that will allow me to be independent once again and able to be part of society," she said in a statement released with the photo.
An anonymous female donor provided face, hands and other tissue material that made the surgery possible. The hand transplant was deemed successful, but complications from pneumonia forced doctors to remove them later on.
"Losing the new hands is just a bump in the road of my recovery," Ms Nash said. If a new donor can be found doctors will try again.
Video footage of Ms Nash along with exclusive interviews with her family and video footage of Nash were released on US television this morning.
She also revealed her first solid meal since getting her new face: eggs with cream cheese, according to the footage shown on the show.
Ms Nash's only daughter said her energetic mother was impatient to recover.
In the photo, she appears with a new nose, lips, facial skin. Before the surgery Ms Nash was often photographed wearing a veil to hide her disfigurement.
Doctors have said they expect her to enjoy a more normal social life post-surgery.
Ms Nash's face was rebuilt by a medical team of more than 30 physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists and residents in a challenging surgery made even more complex by a double hand transplant.
In the statement, Ms Nash thanked the teams of doctors who treated her immediately following the attack, later at the Cleveland Clinic and from Brigham and Women's.
She also made an emotional thank you to the family of the anonymous female donor.
"These transplants could not have been possible without the generosity of a family unknown to me," she said.
"They gave me a face and hands. I will now be able to do things I once took for granted. I will be able to smell. I will be able to eat normally. I will no longer be disfigured. I will have lips and will speak clearly once again. I will be able to kiss and hug loved ones."
Brigham and Women's, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, successfully performed the two previous full face transplants earlier this year.
The world's first full face transplant was completed in Spain in 2010.
Posted in: 
0 Comments:
Post a Comment