Katy Hayes, Bilateral Arm Transplant Candidate

Billy Smith, Houston Chronicle, provided some images for this video

Download photos of Katy Hayes before and after the infection  Watch and download the video Watch and download an animation of the procedure Learn more about hand transplant surgery at BWH Fact Sheet Watch the 9/12 press conference

Texas Mom Discusses Hopes For Nation’s First Bilateral Arm Transplant

September 12, 2012-- Hayes, 44 and a quadruple amputee, is a mother of three from Kingwood, Texas.  In February, 2010, after giving birth to her third child, Katy developed a life-threatening invasive group A streptococcal infection that required doctors to amputate her arms above the elbows and her legs above the knees in order to save her life. Katy has been married to her husband Al for 13 years and has three children, Amber (18), Jake (8) and Arielle (2). 

Following completion of a rigorous pre-operative evaluation, Katy Hayes, of Kingwood, TX, has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) for a bilateral arm transplant. BWH is working in collaboration with the New England Organ Bank (NEOB) who will now actively search for an appropriate donor for Hayes.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital works very closely with the New England Organ Bank to help find potential donors. The donor’s family must provide consent. Self consent to organ and tissue donation, like what is done on a driver’s license application, does not apply to hand tissue donation at this time.  For more information about organ donation, visit www.donatelife.net.

For more of Katy’s story and to learn about her foundation, visit www.katyhayesfund.com.

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