UPDATE: PACKAGE BOMB VICTIM GETS HAND TRANSPLANT

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Vanessa Young
  • Defense Media Activity-San Antonio
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  A team of military and civilian doctors performed the first-ever female hand transplant in the United States Feb. 17 at Wilford Hall Medical Center here.

Retired Master Sgt. Janet McWilliams, a victim of a July 31, 2001, package bomb sent by a disgruntled Airman who had been involuntarily discharged from service, is the 10th person in the United States to undergo this procedure and the first to have it done in a Department of Defense facility. Torch featured McWilliams in its September/October 2004 issue as she continued to recover from her devastating injuries.

Nearly nine years ago, the former first sergeant of Lackland's 342nd Training Squadron lost her left hand when the package bomb exploded in her office. The blast also severed fingers off of her right hand, filleted her torso, blew out both eardrums, caused flash burns to her lungs and powder burns to her body, and damaged her right eye, as a piece of shrapnel bounced in it like a pinball. Her assailant, Brandon Walters, was convicted of the attack and sent to prison in September 2002.

After years of surgical reconstruction and failed attempts to find a suitable prosthesis for her left arm, doctors asked McWilliams if she was willing to be put on a waiting list for a hand donor. Even after nearly 30 painful surgeries, her answer was instant: "Yes!"

On Feb. 16, a hand donor was identified.

"I received a gift, a hand," said an emotional McWilliams, who had her husband Dan by her side to comfort her.

Two weeks after the surgery, McWilliams already experienced movement in her thumb and fingers, said Maj. (Dr.) Dmitry Tuder, who was part of the surgical transplantation team and is the chief of Hand and Upper Extremity Service at Wilford Hall. However, he said it would take at least six months and lots of occupational therapy for her to regain any feeling in her new hand.

This transplant, McWilliams said, is not only a significant occasion for her, but for all wounded warriors.

"I am hoping that I can open the door for other wounded warriors who are coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of the world who've lost hands (or) arms," she said. "Hopefully this will provide hope for them as well as receiving something back that is absolutely priceless ... our dignity."