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Katie's New Face

nationalgeographic.com

41–50 of 337 posts

Re: Katie's New Face

#41
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, you know, we could just stop sending our young people out to get blown up... Kudos to the DoD for funding these experiments but they're solving a problem of their own creation...

> a problem of their own creation... The DoD didn't invent war. It doesn't declare war. It just fights wars. Who sends our young people to be blown up? Our elected leadership. So we all made this problem.

As they used to say, "war is our profession - peace is our product."

Re: Katie's New Face

#42
post #29

isn't she too young for transplant, are the bones and other parts completely settled at such age? in the end of article they mention eyes transplants, is she blind currently? what is success rate of these have transplants and what is plan B in case of rejection, can they keep the face and just suppress reaction or it gets that bad that face must be removed? and during the suicide attempt she blew only face without pa…

Apparently her brain was exposed.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/suicide-survivor-becomes-younge...

Re: Katie's New Face

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it mentioned that she was in a coma when the grandmother made that decision. A fascinating part of this is considering whether I as an organ donor would want my face continuing to exist on someone else after my own death.

After this story I'd personally make it a given for me. I've been an organ donor since I could first give the okay, but take whatever the hell you need from me and as much as you can salvage if I've died.

I wish that in all of these stories that the donor would be celebrated as much as possible. It's extraordinary how such a trivial gesture (like you: strip mine me when I'm gone, I've got no more use for it...) can have have - without exaggeration - life-and-death existential impacts on so many people. Easiest way to be a hero.

ps: if you're reading this and are not signed up as an organ donor, please consider taking a minute to do so right now: https://www.dmv.org/organ-donor.php

Re: Katie's New Face

#44

The advancement on face transplant has been amazing to watch. Especially since the largely publicized face transplant for the Mississippi Firefighter two years ago (Patrick Hardison). Does anyone here know how long it takes for the face to "settle in" where the donor face and patient face start fusing? Also I noticed that the eye movements on all these transplants have a distinctive unusual movement to it. Is this a…

One part of this said that the nerves needed a full year to heal after the transplant.

I still have areas of both numbness and hypersensitivity on my face from nerve damage that occurred when my wisdom teeth were removed decades ago. Both the damage and the current effects were and remain minor, but there's a noticeable improvement now vs. 10 years ago vs. 20 years ago.

Re: Katie's New Face

#45
I'd like to think I could be as strong as this woman, but I honestly don't know if I could be... I don't know if a person should have to be.

I hope the procedure can manage to give her some small semblance of peace.

Re: Katie's New Face

#46

> While the two were outside talking about how upset Katie was, she went into the bathroom, put the barrel of Robert’s .308-caliber hunting rifle below her chin, and pulled the trigger. Why did she have access to that gun? I bet Robert considers himself a "safe" gun owner too. Keep your guns locked and separate from your ammunition. Gun culture takes another victim.

Why do you think that she wouldn't have tried to commit suicide via another means if she didn't have access to a gun?

Re: Katie's New Face

#47
As a father to two so-far-healthy young boys, one soon to be a teenager I feel devastated at the thought of either of them having to endure the level of emotional chaos that Katie went through the moments leading up to her suicide attempt. My stomach goes into a knot at the thought. I mean gosh, it was a cheating boyfriend. I don't know what to do to protect them from such a path.

Re: Katie's New Face

#48

The advancement on face transplant has been amazing to watch. Especially since the largely publicized face transplant for the Mississippi Firefighter two years ago (Patrick Hardison). Does anyone here know how long it takes for the face to "settle in" where the donor face and patient face start fusing? Also I noticed that the eye movements on all these transplants have a distinctive unusual movement to it. Is this a…

To echo what another poster already said, it's all about the nerves. Several years ago I tried to kill myself by cutting my neck. I sliced below the jaw-line from my ear to my chin. I still have "numb areas" after 3+ years, and there aren't really any muscles there that need to be controlled. It's very easy to imagine not ever getting full facial muscle control back in her situation.

I'm very glad you are here to tell us about it.

Re: Katie's New Face

#49
post #30

> While the two were outside talking about how upset Katie was, she went into the bathroom, put the barrel of Robert’s .308-caliber hunting rifle below her chin, and pulled the trigger. Why did she have access to that gun? I bet Robert considers himself a "safe" gun owner too. Keep your guns locked and separate from your ammunition. Gun culture takes another victim.

better solution would be not having guns at all, you don't see these suicides in Europe or very rarely due to limited access

You also have a substantially reduced ability to defend your families against violent criminals that live in your country, so there's kind of a trade off there.

And no, violent criminals don't need guns to hurt you. People have been hurting each other a lot longer than gunpowder has been around.

Re: Katie's New Face

#50

> While the two were outside talking about how upset Katie was, she went into the bathroom, put the barrel of Robert’s .308-caliber hunting rifle below her chin, and pulled the trigger. Why did she have access to that gun? I bet Robert considers himself a "safe" gun owner too. Keep your guns locked and separate from your ammunition. Gun culture takes another victim.

Why do you think that she wouldn't have tried to commit suicide via another means if she didn't have access to a gun?

If I understand correctly, plenty of research shows that it's an impulsive decision, and access to a tool that makes it easy greatly increases the likelihood of acting on it. The research shows that the presence of guns, in particular, in increases suicide. Killing yourself is hard; a gun makes it a push-button operation.

However, it would be much better if someone could share the actual research with us.

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