Posted on 01/29/2013 12:50:04 PM PST by dead
BALTIMORE — A brave Staten Island GI, who underwent a stunning double-arm transplant, beamed with optimism today as he showed off his new limbs.
In an amazing scene of triumph over tragedy, 26-year-old Brendan Marrocco pushed his own wheelchair into a room at Johns Hopkins Hospital and told reporters he has a new lease on life.
“It’s a life changing thing,” said the smiling Marrocco. “It feels amazing. It’s something I was waiting for for a long time.”
Marrocco received the rare transplant on Dec. 18.
For now, Marrocco can’t use his new hands because it’ll take months for nerves to grow all the way down his arms. The GI wheeled into his meeting with journalists by pushing the wheelchair’s wheels with his arms and wrists.
(Excerpt) Read more at newyorkpost.com ...
Wow. Just wow. What an amazing thing.
Wow...
Yes, this is incredible. We have one who lost arm and leg at Fallujah. It would be great if he could have a new arm someday.
How do they handle fingerprint records after such a thing?
What is really amazing is that once they figure out how to get spinal cord nerves to regrow they may be able to do a “complete body transplant” or a “brain transplant”.
Imagine a soldier who had most of their body turned into hamburger meat and face was destroyed and eyes and ears blown out....
Now imagine a someone who dies via extreme brain trauma in a car wreck or they suffered a gun shot to the head etc... where their body is fine except for being completely brain dead.
Theoretically you could transplant the healthy brain into a healthy body and make a whole person again.
It is not out of the realm of possibility for this sorta medical tech to become a reality in the next 10-20 years!!!
Ideally it would be nice if they could clone a new body for the person using a technique that would speedily grow a new body while suppressing brain growth so there would be no need for donor bodies.
You just reminded of a movie I saw. I was “Fifth Element”. It was a good movie. I think it had Bruce Willis in it.
Reminds me (unfortunately) of a “Strange Tales” (or some such) comic book where a female surgeon keeps transplanting dead soldiers’ limbs onto living soldiers and finally transplants her own head onto a dead (male) soldier’s body. 40 years ago and I still remember that strip - was pretty creepy back then.
“Theoretically you could transplant the healthy brain into a healthy body and make a whole person again.”
See “I Will Fear No Evil” by Robert Heinlein - a novel about an old man whose brain is transplanted into a younger body, published about 1970 and set in the 21st century.
Good News Bump!
Thank you for such an uplifting post, and may God continue to strengthen that young man, and empower the medical team.
Tatt
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