At the age of 18, Katie Stubblefield made an attempt on her own life with a pistol; now, she is the recipient of the youngest face transplant in the history of the United States.
Katie exclaims, “I am finally able to touch my face, and it feels incredible.”
She is featured prominently on the cover of the September edition of National Geographic.
Katie Stubblefield was able to feel the cut on her face as she ran her fingers over it while thinking about something else.
Because of her injuries, she had significant problems seeing, but by touching her face, she was able to get a sense of what her physicians were doing to treat her around the clock. She was able to pinpoint the areas of her face that had enlarged. She was able to sense the voids where the missing pieces should have been.
Before Katie, at the age of 21, she became the youngest person in the United States to get a face transplant. Katie’s face structure and functions, such as eating, breathing, and swallowing, were lost in a catastrophic gunshot injury, which was the sad aftermath of a suicide attempt when she was a teenager. The transplant, which was conducted last year, attempts to restore Katie’s face structure and functions, which were lost in the severe gunshot accident.
Now, Katie wants to utilize the historic surgery she had to bring attention to the long-term damage that may be caused by suicide as well as the priceless importance of life.
She is highlighted in National Geographic’s full-length documentary titled “Katie’s Face,” which was released on Tuesday, as well as on the cover of the September edition of National Geographic magazine, which made its debut on Tuesday. “The Story of a Face” is the title of the accompanying story.
Katie had to overcome a lot of emotional obstacles in the days leading up to the attempt that she made on her own life.
She endured surgery for persistent gastrointestinal difficulties, and she was the victim of treachery in a personal relationship. Both of these challenges required her to have surgery. At around the same time, Katie’s mother, Alesia, was summarily removed from a teaching position at Katie’s school because Alesia “questioned several decisions that were made lacking integrity,” according to Robb, Katie’s father. Robb told CNN that Alesia was let go because she “questioned several decisions that were made lacking integrity.”
The number of people who die by suicide in the United States has witnessed significant growth in the last few years. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, it has moved up to the tenth spot on the list of top causes of death in the nation. According to a number of studies, dialing the national suicide hotline is associated with a significant reduction in the probability of death by suicide: 1-800-273-TALK
The lines are manned by a combination of professionals who are paid and unpaid volunteers who have received training in crisis and suicide intervention. Advocates believe that factors such as a person-centered approach to treatment, a confidential setting, round-the-clock availability, and the opportunity for callers to hang up at any moment have contributed to the program’s success.
On March 25, 2014, when Katie was 18 years old, her elder brother, Robert Stubblefield, discovered her after she had injured herself in a toilet at their family home in Mississippi. He had heard the shooting and found her after she had injured herself.
He was in utter disbelief.
Katie has no recollection of the terrible day in which she suffered the loss of her face. She has said that she does not remember much of that year, including the fact that she was hospitalized in Oxford, Mississippi; that she was transported to another hospital in Memphis, Tennessee; and that she was then moved to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where she would receive her face transplantation three years later.
Robb and Alesia, Katie’s parents, first became familiar with the phrase “face transplant” when visiting Memphis.
“There was an older trauma surgeon who basically told us, ‘It’s the worst wound that I’ve ever seen of its kind,’ and he said, “The only thing I can think of that would truly give her functional life again is a face transplant,” “Robb recalled. “The only thing I can think of that would really give her a functional life again is a face transplant.”
“As I stood there, the thought crossed my mind, ‘What do you mean, a face transfer?'” What do you do?’ ”
Katie’s reaction was the same as everyone else’s when she learned about the potential treatment later on, she said.
Katie said, “I was completely clueless about what a face transplant was.” “When my parents helped explain everything to me, I was very excited to get a face again and to have function again,” she says. “I had a face again.”
Full and partial face transplants are medical operations that entail replacing all or sections of a person’s face with donated tissue from a dead donor. This tissue may include skin, bone, nerves, and blood vessels. Full face transplants are more extensive than partial face transplants.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the treatment that Katie had entailed the transplantation of her scalp, forehead, upper and lower eyelids, eye sockets, nose, upper cheeks, upper jaw and half of lower jaw, upper teeth, lower teeth, partial facial nerves, muscles, and skin. The end result was that her whole face tissue was properly replaced.
Face transplants have the potential to give patients their life back.
A lady who had survived a gunshot wound to the head was the first person to have a face transplant in the United States. This woman’s story is quite similar to Katie’s. This patient, Connie Culp, went through a transplant procedure at the Cleveland Clinic that lasted for 22 hours, and she made her public debut with her new face in 2009.
That was a very successful attempt at face transplantation. In 2010, the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, became the first institution in the world to do a complete face transplant that was successful.
According to Susan Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of National Geographic magazine, “only 40 people in the world have ever had a face transplant, and we believe that she is the 39th person,” Katie is believed to be the 39th person to have a face transplant.
“We think her story is one of the most important stories that we will do this year,” Goldberg said of the publication. “We thought it was just such a moving and inspiring story that was about everything from human journey to breakthroughs in medicine and science,” said one of the reviewers.
Dr. Brian Gastman, a plastic surgeon at Cleveland Clinic who led Katie’s surgery and monitored her treatment, revealed that physicians at the clinic utilized 3D printing to help repair almost 90% of Katie’s lower jaw prior to her face transplantation. Dr. Gastman was Katie’s primary surgeon and oversaw her care.
The 3D-printing of a model template for the restoration of Katie’s jaw was accomplished by the surgical team with the help of CT images of elder sister Olivia McCay’s jaw.
“We made a plate designed for the combination of Katie and her sister’s jaw, and that’s what we used to make Katie’s jaw before we did the transplant,” Gastman said. “We made a plate designed for the combination of Katie and her sister’s jaw.”
He said that his first reaction upon seeing Katie’s wound was concern that she would not make it through the night.
Katie’s name was added to the face transplant waiting list in March of 2016. According to National Geographic, fourteen months later, a donor was discovered. Her name was Adrea Schneider, and she was 31 years old when she passed away from a heroin overdose. Katie, a candidate for a face transplant and a survivor of an attempt at suicide, was subjected to a thorough psychiatric examination prior to the operation.
On May 4, 2017, after she had been given the go-ahead to get her new face, she had a surgery that lasted for 31 hours. Eleven surgeons, numerous more experts, and virtual reality were engaged in the operation. The surgical procedure was finished the next day.
Katie, who is having some trouble expressing herself correctly, stated, “I am now able to touch my face, and it feels amazing.” Katie is still having some difficulties speaking clearly.
Robb, her father, provided a translation of some of her thoughts. He said, “You take it for granted, the different components of our faces – the bone, the tissue, the muscle, everything – but when it’s gone, you recognize the big need.” Then, when you are given a transplant, you have an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
On August 1, 2017, Katie was released from her treatment at the Cleveland Clinic. She takes immunosuppressive medicines in order to lower her chances of suffering from transplant rejection, which is a condition that happens when the recipient’s immune system attacks the organ or tissue that was transplanted into them. She is going to go on with the treatment for the rest of her life and never stop taking the drug.
Katie also maintains her participation in occupational and physical therapy, works with a speech therapist, and is enrolled in Braille classes.
The recipient of a face transplant gets to meet the donor’s family.
Katie stated of her progress in rehabilitation, “I’m definitely taking many, many daily steps,” adding that her family has been a major help in her recovery and that her religion has kept her strong. “I’m definitely taking many, many daily steps,” Katie added.
She said that “life is precious, and life is beautiful,” both of which she believed to be true.
Because it is still considered experimental medicine, face transplantation is not covered by private health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. According to National Geographic, Katie’s transplant costs were funded by a grant from the United States Department of Defense, which was administered by the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine. The center is working to develop sophisticated treatment alternatives, such as face transplantation, for critically injured troops and servicewomen. These possibilities include face transplantation.
“I recall Dr. Gastman mentioning to me, essentially he stated that Katie was sort of the archetypal possible candidate for a face transplant, and he said that to me. First, because of the nature of the damage that she sustained, and second, since she is in the same age range as a lot of other service members,” Robb added. “She’s in that age range, in her late teens to early 20s, when a lot of young soldiers are getting hurt and wounded.”
Katie’s medical care team has high expectations that her upcoming operation will help progress the area of face transplantation; but, they also have high aspirations for a variety of other aspects of her future.
A man who has had a face transplant discusses his experience with change.
Soon, Katie wants to enroll in an online college program, and once she graduates, she could pursue a profession in counseling or as a motivational speaker. Her goal is to bring more attention to the issue of suicide and ways to avoid it.
“My first and foremost wish for Katie is for her to be happy,” Gastman added.
“That’s number one, but beyond that, I’d like for her to have some level of normalcy,” he added. “I’d like for her to have some level of normalcy.” “Then, she is in a position to accomplish all of that and become a representative for so many different elements, including how to be courageous in the face of hardship and how to avoid letting a single choice define who you are. Further, on the other hand, how much a single hasty choice made by so many young people in today’s society might badly influence your complete life.
According to him, Katie “had the ultimate second chance.”
Katie’s mother, Alesia, believes that raising awareness about suicide is still very important.
According to the World Health Organization, suicide claims the lives of up to 800,000 individuals throughout the world each year, which equates to around one person taking their own life every 40 seconds.
According to a research that was released in June by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of people taking their own lives dramatically increased in 44 states throughout the United States during the years 1999 to 2016. In 2016, suicide was responsible for the loss of about 45,000 lives, and of those who took their own life, more than half did not have a diagnosed mental health problem at the time of their death.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in 2016, firearms accounted for 22,963 suicide fatalities in the United States, which is over half of all suicide deaths. This makes firearms the most prevalent technique used in suicide deaths.
“I think we do a pretty decent job of educating them about sex and about drinking and driving,” stated Alesia on the education of young people; nevertheless, there is a shortage of knowledge regarding the prevention of suicide.
Alesia added, “I can honestly tell you that we do not believe for one moment that Katie wanted to die.” “I can honestly tell you that for Katie,” “But we do believe she hit that low where she definitely tried and thought about it,” and “for a moment – 20 seconds or less – kids can make those decisions.” “But we do believe she hit that low where she definitely tried and thought about it.”