London, September 27: In a surgical feat, doctors have rebuilt the face of a person, suffering from mouth cancer, using different parts of his body including his ribs, hips and even wrists.
46-year-old Tim Gallego, who was unable to talk for a whole year and couldn’t eat or drink, underwent 16 operations to have bones, skin and arteries from all over his body implanted into his face, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported.
While doctors removed chunks of bone from his rib cage and his hips to form the structure of his new nose and jaw to hold in his new teeth, arteries from both his legs have been built into his neck and skin from his wrists grafted onto his lower face.
Tim has now made a full recovery from his eight year ordeal and looks forward to looking into the mirror every morning to see his new self.
“I seem to be running out of a supply of body parts now. I’ve always been very positive throughout and always thought that I would get back to normal. It’s just that normal has ended up being a bit different for me.
“Within a week of being diagnosed, my dog died and Katie found out she was pregnant with Imogen, our first child. After the operation I was already looking like a monster and then ended up with a face like a basketball, I was so swollen.
“The radiotherapy made me sick as a dog. But I was determined at that stage to be well enough to look after Imogen. I needed to be well enough to drive Katie to hospital. Because of the changes in my face now, people I know have seen me and not recognised me,” he said.
-Agencies