Doctors perform first hand transplant in DOD

Retired Master Sgt. Janet McWilliams became the first female to undergo a hand transplant Feb. 17, 2010, at the Wilford Hall Medical Center, Texas. She is the 10th person to undergo the procedure in the U.S. and the first to have it done at a Defense Department facility. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

HAND TRANSPLANT GIVES HOPE

Published June 15, 2010
By Allison Kemp

Via e-mail -- I was thrilled to read your update on retired Master Sgt. Janet McWilliams ("Package Bomb Victim Gets Hand Transplant," March/April 2010 issue, page 4). I remember following her story in the news and also read the in-depth feature you ran in Torch some years back ("Mail from Hell," September/October 2004 issue). With all the devastating injuries she received in that cowardly terrorist attack, it was heartwarming to see her smiling face in your magazine with her new hand. Modern medicine never ceases to amaze me, and I'm sure stories like this give hope to those troops who have lost hands in combat.