The goal: new arms
Will Lautzenheiser is an organ donor, willing to contribute almost everything. He said so on camera today. “Obviously, I’ve missed the opportunity to donate my own arms and legs, but everything else can be considered a hand-me-down, including my face if need be,” Lautzenheiser said. The pronouncement got a chuckle out of an assemblage of normally hard-boiled newspaper and television reporters, gathered to document Lautzenheiser’s decision to pursue a double arm transplant that may give him greater independence, and which represents the latest foray by the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) into the frontiers of organ and tissue transplantation. Lautzenheiser, 39, is a quadriplegic who until several years ago was a Boston University film professor. His trouble started in 2011, as he was beginning a new job in Montana. He developed a streptococcus infection that became necrotizing fasciitis, which destroyed the tissues of his arms and legs and nearly killed him. Doctors...