Face-transplant recipient to wed burn victim
-
Photo above: ‘PERFECT COUPLE’: Mr Dallas Wiens recently popped the question to Miss Jamie Nash.
UNITED STATES - He is the first person in the US to receive a full-face transplant. And now, he is set to marry another burn patient he met at a hospital support group.
Mr Dallas Wiens, 27, from Texas, recently popped the question to Miss Jamie Nash, who was severely burned in a near-fatal car accident in 2010.
The accident left her with burns over 70 per cent of her body. She was burnt to the bone on some parts of her body, and had to have four toes amputated.
Miss Nash, who also has severe burns on her back and legs, admits that she was sending a text message when she drove off the road. She often speaks to young people about the dangers of texting and driving.
So far, she has undergone more than 30 surgeries to restore her mobility and quality of life.
Mr Wiens on the other hand suffered a horrifying accident when his head touched a high-voltage power line while painting the Ridglea Baptist Church in November 2008.
His features burned away and he was left blind, without lips, a nose or eyebrows. Doctors said that Wiens would be likely paralysed from the neck down and would never speak or produce enough saliva to eat solid food.
However, his strong spirit allowed him to make an unprecedented recovery and in March 2011, a transplant team of more than 30 doctors performed a full face transplant for 15 hours straight.
He received a new nose, lips, skin, muscle and nerves from an anonymous donor, and has had more than 38 surgeries so far.
He gained back the ability to talk and smell, but the transplant, which was paid for by the US military, was unable to restore his sight, reported The Daily Mail.
Some nerves were so badly damaged that he has only partial sensation on his left cheek and the left side of his forehead.
In the months both spent at Parkland Memorial Hospital's acclaimed burn's unit, the two did not cross paths.
But on the fateful day in the fall of 2011, the couple finally met at the hospital's support group for severe burn patients.