The year has just started, and we’ve had someone get bitten by a bug that gave her a facial infection, which is flesh-eating infection.
A Spanish woman in Barcelona named Carme, who didn’t give much information about herself, was the first to ever get a face transplant and organs from a donor who chose to donate her face before choosing medical aid while she was dying.
The bug that bit her wasn’t disclosed, but it could have been any of these bugs, Black fly, spiders, mosquitoes, or sand flies. However, we do know that the bug bite took place in the Canary Islands. No sources give too many details about the bug or where it happened. All we know is that the bug bite got infected, which then became a flesh-eating infection.
Senior Alejandra Felix here at Osos said, “ I think it’s pretty unfortunate that it happened to her. It really goes to show how crucial it is for us to understand these sorts of things, so that we can avoid these types of situations. I think it’s also important for us to be transparent when it comes to topics like this, so that we can fully understand and be able to avoid them.”
After the bite got infected, she developed necrosis, aka flesh-eating infection, and then sepsis. Necrosis is the death of most or all the cells in an organ or tissue due to disease, injury, or failure of the blood supply. Sepsis is when the body responds poorly to an infection.
The severity of everything she was dealing with impacted the way she spoke and her vision. As well as her breathing and ability to eat. For months before the operation, she had been fighting for her life.
Her case is such a compelling and strong case, yet there isn’t really much out about her story and what has happened to her.
We don’t even know anything about the woman who donated herself. What we do know is that she utilized Spain’s euthanasia law. Which allows adults who are dealing with severe incurable conditions that are causing the patient unbearable suffering and pain that they can request assistance to die. The law known as LORE permits both euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Euthanasia is illegal in America; meanwhile, assisted suicide is legal in 12+ jurisdictions, California being one of them.
I think what the woman did for Carme is amazing. She practically gave her another chance to be ‘herself’ again. Which Carme even mentions when being questioned, “when I’m looking in the mirror at home, I’m thinking that I’m starting to look more like myself.”
Senior Dylan Scott from Osos said, “ I feel like it’s a blessing for her. She had been given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have another chance at life without judgment and staring from others. I hope that because of this successful face transplant, they can help others in the future.”
This surgery was such a huge and complex surgery that it took around 100 professionals to assist in it. Something like this can take up to 24 hours to complete, and after Carme was done with everything, she was hospitalized for a month following the procedure. The hospital pointed out that to date, there have only been 54 facial transplants worldwide.
Now that Carme is back to kind of who she once was, she can move forward with her new life. This was a very impactful journey for her. She won’t be in that grand of pain anymore with the infection.