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Double Arm Transplant Feels 'Surreal' to Quadruple Amputee

Double Arm Transplant Feels 'Surreal' to Quadruple Amputee
Will Lautzenheiser speaks at a news conference to announce his successful double arm transplant at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. (Brian Snyder/Reuters/Landov)  

By    |   Wednesday, 26 November 2014 05:46 AM EST

A 35-person medical team, including 13 surgeons, performed a rare dual arm transplant on a 40-year-old quadruple amputee who describes the experience of getting the new limbs as "surreal."

"I want to thank the doctors for their great service," an emotional Will Lautzenheiser said at a news conference at the hospital on Tuesday. "I want to thank everyone."

The arms were attached last month from an anonymous donor in a nine-hour operation at Brigham & Women's Hospital, reported Reuters.

He said having the new limbs was "incredible" and "surreal."

Lautzenheiser, who lost his arms and legs to a streptococcal infection in 2011, said he has limited function in the new arms, which are encumbered by wrappings to help with healing.

Lautzenheiser, a former professor of film production and screenwriting at Boston University and Montana State University, has a long stretch of therapy ahead but hopes to return to his career.

The family of the anonymous donor told Lautzenheiser in a statement issued Tuesday that it hoped he would make a "wonderful recovery, and that your loved ones will be able to enjoy your warm embrace."

While rare, there have been other double-arm transplants in the United States recent years. In 2012, a U.S. soldier who lost all four limbs in a roadside explosion in Iraq had double-arm transplant surgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

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TheWire
A 35-person medical team, including 13 surgeons, performed a rare dual arm transplant on a 40-year-old quadruple amputee who describes the experience of getting the new limbs as "surreal."
double, arm, transplant, quadruple, amputee, surreal
224
2014-46-26
Wednesday, 26 November 2014 05:46 AM
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