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Hand transplant could give hope to others

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — A retired master sergeant who lost her hand nine years ago when a package bomb exploded here is the first woman in the U.S. to receive a hand transplant.

Now she believes her surgery, the first hand transplant performed at a Defense Department hospital — Wilford Hall Medical Center here — will give hope to service members who have lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Retired Master Sgt. Janet McWilliams, 59, cradled her bandaged left hand March 3 as military and civilian doctors declared her surgery a success.

“Two weeks ago I received a gift, a hand,” McWilliams told reporters. “Hopefully this will provide hope for [wounded service members] as well as receiving something back that is priceless, and that is our dignity.”

Doctors said the ground-breaking procedure, performed here, could pave the way for future hand transplants for wounded service members.

“This is an exciting day and … this is a tremendous opportunity,” said Army Col. Dr. James Ficke, chairman of the Wilford Hall and Brooke Army Medical Center integrated departments of orthopedics and rehabilitation.

Almost 1,000 troops wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan have undergone major extremity amputations, and about 50 of them could qualify for a hand transplant, said Ficke, who also is the orthopedic surgery consultant to the Army surgeon general.

McWilliams’ surgery signals great potential for other service members, but “what really happens in the future, time will tell,” Ficke said. “This is an additional choice for patients.”

McWilliams has undergone 29 surgeries since July 31, 2001, the day she noticed a package on her desk at Lackland. At the time, McWilliams was a first sergeant for the 342nd Training Squadron.

As soon as she opened the package, it exploded, severing her left hand and fingers from her right. The explosion also tore into her torso, damaged her right eye, blew out her eardrums and left powder burns all over her body.

A former airman assigned to McWilliams’ old training squadron, the 344th, sent the bomb because he was angry that he had been medically discharged from the Air Force. McWilliams had recommended a mental health evaluation for Brandon Walters, who was convicted of sending the bomb and sentenced to more than 90 years in prison.

As McWilliams recovered, she tried various prosthetics, but none seemed to work or fit right.

“I used all different types of devices to make my quality of life as good as it can be, but in the back of my mind I always wanted a hand, and this wonderful [donor] family gave me that gift,” she said.

In August 2009, McWilliams was put on the waiting list for a donor hand, said Maj. (Dr.) Dmitry Tuder, the lead surgeon on the transplant surgical team.

The search for a donor hand is complicated by factors such as skin color, race, gender and blood type, said Dr. Joe Nespral, director of clinical services for the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance.

On Feb. 16, a match was found, and McWilliams was in surgery the next day.

Since the surgery, McWilliams has healthy blood flow to her new hand and she already has some feeling in her thumb and fingers, Tuder said.

He estimates she will gain feeling in the hand in about six months and in about a year will have recovered enough feeling and function to complete daily tasks. She also faces months of vigorous occupational therapy and will rely on immunosuppressive medications for the rest of her life.

“I’m prepared for the next six months or years,” said McWilliams, who wore a blue robe with her rank and her former squadron patches.

“ ‘No’ is not part of my vocabulary. This beautiful new hand will certainly become a part of my body.”

McWilliams also thanked the donor family for their generosity despite their deep loss.

“At night, in the quiet, I marvel, I absolutely marvel at what has happened here,” she said. “And at the same token, I think of the family.”