MADRID - A Spanish hospital says it has performed the world’s first complete face transplant on a man who lost his jaw, nose and cheeks, and who couldn’t speak or eat by himself, according to El Pais newspaper.

“We thank the patient for his trust — this is a life or death operation,” said Pere Barret, head of burns and plastic surgery at Vall d’Hebrón hospital in Barcelona, the newspaper reported.

The patient has seen himself in a mirror and is satisfied with the results, Barret was quoted as saying.

The patient still cannot eat on his own and needs help breathing, the doctor said.  In order to regain key functions and recover the ability to speak, breath and even smile, he will have to go through a rehabilitation plan.

The March operation on the man in Barcelona, who lost his face in an accident five years ago and has undergone nine previous operations, involved 30 medical professionals and lasted 24 hours, the newspaper reported.

The Times of London said the man was a farmer, in his 30s, who accidentally shot himself in 2005.

The patient is doing well, the doctors told a press conference, although he is still not eating alone in order not to force his facial muscles, El Pais reported.

While 11 other face transplants have been performed around the world, the the hospital said these only involved parts of the patients’ faces.

During the operation, doctors extracted the donor’s face, and then removed the jaw, nose, cheeks and parts of the eye cavities. Then the medical team took all of the donor face’s soft tissue, including musculature, veins and nerves — things that “give mobility to the face, the eyelids and mouth,” Barret told reporters, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, the recipient was being prepared by extracting deformed parts of his face and making sure his immune system would not not reject the transplant, the doctor explained.

In order to transplant the face, the medical team has to connect four jugular veins, extract bones and join all the musculature and bloodvessels, according to El Pais.

“A face doesn’t work if it cannot move,” Barret was quoted as saying.

A scar surrounds the patient’s entire face, running along the roots of his hair, ears and under his chin, the newspaper said.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): MSNBCMEDIA

The golfer was found semi-conscious with facial injuries after his car reportedly hit a fire hydrant and tree.

In a statement on his website the golfer said the only person responsible for the crash in Florida “was me”.

He added: “The many false, unfounded and malicious rumours that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible.”

The incident occurred in the suburb of Isleworth, an exclusive area near Orlando, at 0225 local time (0725 GMT) on Friday.

Florida police officers were told Woods’ wife Elin had used a golf club to break the car’s rear window and help him out.

Police were expected to question Woods about the incident on Sunday but the Associated Press reported that the meeting was cancelled for the third straight day.

Sgt Kim Montes of the Florida Highway Patrol said Woods’ lawyer did not reschedule the meeting.

In a statement posted online about an hour before he was due to be interviewed, Woods said: “My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.

“This incident has been stressful and very difficult for Elin, our family and me. I appreciate all the concern and well wishes that we have received.

“But, I would also ask for some understanding that my family and I deserve some privacy no matter how intrusive some people can be.”

On Sunday authorities released a recording of a 911 emergency call made by the golfer’s neighbour after the incident.

In a shaken voice, he says: “I need an ambulance immediately. I have someone down in front of my house. They hit a pole.”

Woods, who has been married for five years and has two young children, has recently been the subject of tabloid allegations about his private life.

Asked about reports the couple had been arguing in the hours leading up to the crash, the police said they were treating the incident as a traffic accident, not a domestic issue.

According to the highway patrol, alcohol was not a factor in the incident.

Chief Daniel Saylor of the Windermere Police Department said: “From what we understand, his wife came out of the house when she heard the accident, him hitting the fire hydrant, (and) used a golf club - that’s what we were told - to break out the rear window to gain entrance into the vehicle, removed him from the vehicle and laid him down in the street.

“He was in and out of consciousness with lacerations to his upper and lower lip, with a little bit of blood in his mouth, but he was conscious enough to be able to speak a little bit. According to my officers, it was not life-threatening injuries.”

In comments to the Associated Press news agency, Chief Saylor said his officers found the 33-year-old lying in the street with his wife hovering over him.

“She was frantic, upset. It was her husband laying on the ground.”

Source (article): BBC.CO.UK

Source (picture): THEMEHYBRID, INTOTHEROUGH

On this day in 1955, movie star James Dean dies at age 24 in a car crash on a California highway. Dean was driving his Porsche 550 Spyder, nicknamed “Little Bastard,” headed to a car race in Salinas, California, with his mechanic Rolf Wuetherich, when they were involved in a head-on collision with a car driven by a 23-year-old college student named Donald Turnaspeed. Dean was taken to Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:59 p.m. Wuetherich, who was thrown from the car, survived the accident and Turnaspeed escaped with minor injuries. No charges were ever filed against him.

James Byron Dean was born February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana. He studied drama at the University of California, Los Angeles, before moving to New York City, where he appeared in plays and TV shows and took classes at the Actors Studio with legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg.

Dean rose to stardom in 1955 with his role as Cal Trask in East of Eden. He reportedly beat out Paul Newman for the part. Dean’s performance in the film, based on the John Steinbeck novel, earned him a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. It was the first time in Oscar history that an actor was nominated after his death. The young actor’s next film was “Rebel Without a Cause,” also released in 1955, in which he played a rebellious teen named Jim Stark. The film, which co-starred Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, turned Dean into the poster boy for disaffected youth and cool. Dean’s final film “Giant,” released in 1956 after his death, was an epic tale of a Texas cattle rancher and his family. Dean starred opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson and was nominated posthumously for a second Oscar for his performance as Jett Rink.

Dean’s success as an actor enabled him to pursue his passion for racing cars and motorcycles. Despite his short life and brief acting career, he endures as a Hollywood icon. He is buried at Park Cemetery in Fairmount, Indiana, where fans continue to flock to his grave every year. People also pay tribute to Dean at a memorial located near the accident site in Cholame, California.

HISTORY.COM
Date: 2008-09-30

Thanks B.

Newsman Anchor-
“Alright this morning you have to see the video that has people questioning a woman’s slip & fall inside a local super market. CVS Forest Joan Gorey has reaction now from the store manager, and she shows you what else the cameras caught.”

Woman News Reporter-
In-store cameras capture a nasty fall. A worker comes to help the woman collapsed on the floor, and another shopper comes to her aid, the woman loses her footing again.

Manager of Store-
“When she’s falling she’s not falling backwards she’s falling forward. So usually when you slip and fall you tend to go backwards.”

Woman News Reporter-
And that wasn’t all store manager, Luis Diaz found suspicious. So as the Sunrise paramedics took the woman away on a stretcher he rewound the video tapes and spotted the same woman in the same aisle minutes before. Watch as she picks up a bottle of olive oil and tries to twist off the cap unsuccessfully, puts it back on the shelf. She returns a short time later, quickly opens a new bottle and pours it on the floor, then stashes it back on the shelf. Watch again as she returns to the spot and lurches forward.

Manager of Store-
“It’s not about getting even, it’s about her getting things right, because she’s going to try and sue me, sue the store for whatever happens, so I have to make sure that everybody knows that this is a flaw.”

Woman News Reporter-
We went to the home of the woman on the video to check on her conditions, a nephew answered the door.

Woman Reporter-
“Did she tell you about the um, accident she had?”

Man who answered door-
“Na she didn’t tell me about it.”

Man Store Manager-
“This is the so-called bottle.”

Woman Reporter-
He has retrieved the bottle of oil and had to store it in a plastic bag. Said he’s glad he spent over $30,000 on a sophisticated surveillance system a few months ago.

Man Store Manager-
“At the end of the day, it pays for itself, because things like this if you don’t have a system that will record everything, you lose money.”

Joan Murray, CVS 4 News

Newswoman Anchor-
“Hello captain obvious.”

Newsman Anchor-
“Yes and they just put up the camera like a month ago,

Newswoman Anchor Interrupting-
“It was well worth the money.”

Newsman Anchorman-
“And to see that and rewind that and go back and to have the gut feeling. I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what doctors say and what the court comes up with.”