Dallas Weins has become the first man in the US history to be given a complete face transplant after he met with a grievous accident in 2008. Today his life has changed, where he’s capable to smile, feel his face, and express his feelings. He has defied all odds and went through more than 2 dozen operations and is now able to kiss his daughter, plus roam around in public without anyone staring at him or giving him a second look.
Weins was painting his local church in 2008 when the boom lift he was maneuvering glided and came in contact with a power line, which burnt up his complete head and face.
This gruesome accident, lead Wein to 22 surgeries, which left him with almost having no face, except for a lipless mouth and a little beard.
As per the doctors, he would have been paralyzed if he survived, as he was in a coma for nearly three months, with his family by his side. But one day the grandmother happened to push Wein’s thumb and surprisingly he pushed back and started responding then onwards.
Then in March, a 30 doctors team along with nurses and anesthesiologists began working on giving Wein a complete changed face. Round the clock for more than 17 hours, they worked on animating his skin, muscles, and his nerves.
Wein’s new face has changed him dramatically, as he today finds it so natural to smile along with his face expressing all the emotions, even though it’s unintendedly done.
In May on ‘Good Morning America’ he was reunited with his young daughter Scarlette, almost after a two-month recovery programme. Wein found that the transplant made him look just normal like everybody else.
He felt like heaven when his daughter kissed him, lacking feelings on his face for more than two and a half years. Actually, Wein had no intention to do the face transplant, but because of his daughter Scarlette, he took the step.
Wein shares, that his daughter has been instrumental in the face transplant. Which is why he went through the painful operation of getting his nose, skin, lips, with the animation muscles and nerves to drive them and provide the senses.
The love for his daughter was the main reason why he took the steps for the face transplant, otherwise, he would have lived his life without any issues. The very thought of her daughter growing up and being questioned right through her childhood, as to why her father looks indifferent, was unacceptable to Wein.
Today he can move his lips for smiling and drink from a glass, all thanks to the physical therapy. He still has to keep visiting Brigham and Women’s Hospital for some adjustments, in order to make the face appear as normal as possible.
Wein believes, neither the new face nor the old face is who he is, but it’s the inside of a person that is incarnated. This is what you represent to the world and this is how the world also views you as.
The positive attitude of Wein’s has been his motivating force initiating a successful recovery. He believes, either you choose to get better or bitter, therefore, he chose to get better
Finally, the day came when Wein 26, hailing from Fort Worth, Texas appeared in front of his beloved daughter Scarlette and the world with a changed face.
Unfortunately, his eyesight could not be restored by the doctors yet, but fortunately, he has started sensing things and has begun smelling things. Lasagne blowing from the hospital’s kitchen was the very first thing he smelled, which made him feel really good.
Wein apparently has no memory of the accident, in spite of his hair-raising injuries. He feels that he wouldn’t want to change the past because many good things have been happening in his life on account of it. His family has grown closer, he’s a much better person and has become a better father than before.
He was apparently the third person to get a face transplant, first being James Maki in 2009 at the same hospital and Connie Clip being the second in 2008 at the Cleveland Clinic. But where a complete face transplant is concerned, Wein is the first.
Well, the very first complete face transplant in the world to have been undertaken was last year of a man named Oscar, 31-years-old from Spain, a farmer, who got injured in a shooting accident. See the changed face he has now.
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