The world’s first successful head transplant has taken place in Africa. This ground-breaking operation took place at the Charlotte Maxexe Johannesburg Academic Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.
It took the surgeons, led Professor Myron Danus, nineteen hours to carry out this operation on Paul Horner who was diagnosed with bone cancer five years ago. 36 year old Paul was close to death when he was approved for the controversial and possibly deadly operation.
According to Doctor Tom Downey in his interview with CNN , who was part of the South African team who carried out the operation, he says he is thrilled about the results.
“It’s a massive breakthrough,” Downey said. “We’ve proved that it can be done – we can give someone a brand new body that is just as good, or better, than their previous one. The success of this operation leads to infinite possibilities.”
The operation actually took place in February but the hospital had to wait until they could confirm it was successful before they made any public statement.
Downey spoke to reporters about the complexity behind the first ever head transplant.
“This procedure is another excellent example of how medical research, technical know-how and patient-centered care can be combined in the quest to relieve human suffering.”
“Our goal is for Horner to be fully functional in two years and so far we are very pleased by his rapid recovery,” said Danus. “Before the operation, Horner’s body was riddled with cancer and he had less than a month to live. We were fortunate enough to find a donor body; a 21-year-old man who has been brain dead from a serious car accident that happened in 2012. The boys body worked just fine, but his brain was not functioning whatsoever, and there was absolutely no chance of recovery.” Danus continued, “We received approval from the young man’s parents to use their sons body to do the operation. They were extremely happy their son could save a life even in the vegetated state that he was in.”
Doctors say Horner has made an 85% recovery; walking, talking and doing the normal things a healthy individual does.
Horner who lives in the United States, could not carry out the operation in his country because of the strict medical guidelines.
Image credits: NewsExaminer.net
