The youngest recipient of face transplant from the USA UU Share survival story and hope for suicide

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The youngest recipient of face transplant from the USA UU Share survival story and hope for suicide









As a star student and a promising athlete at her Mississippi high school, with college ambitions, it seemed that the sky was the limit for Katie Stubblefield, then 17, her father said.



"She was driven for a purpose," her father, Robb Stubblefield, told "Nightline." "When I was a little girl, I played football since I was 4 years old and I was not very good at playing football ... they used to call it 'bulldozer'".





Courtesy of the Stubblefield family
In high school, Katie Stubblefield was a star student and a promising athlete with college ambitions.

But in the middle of the stress of looking at universities and looking forward to graduation, the adolescent's life was diverted.



Now, four years later, she has a different story to tell, one that describes the emotional struggles of adolescence, the permanence of decisions in a split second and how two troubled souls came together to create a second chance.





This story will be presented on "Nightline" on Tuesday, October 2, at 12:35 a.m. ET. Watch the "Nightline" business days at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC.



For Katie, she started with a broken heart and a gun.



That led her to fight for her life.



At age 21, Katie became the youngest recipient of face transplant in the United States, and only the 40th person to undergo surgery.



Years before that procedure to make history, she was going through a stressful year. The high school senior was suffering from health problems related to an appendectomy. Both of Katie's parents had lost their jobs, teaching at their high school.



"I think really with Katie, she absorbed it, and it hurt her deeply because I was her teacher," said Robb Stubblefield.





Courtesy of the Stubblefield family
Katie Stubblefield is seen here in this family photo.

Then, on March 25, 2014, Katie's boyfriend broke up with her. Angry and annoyed, she left school early and drove to her older brother Robert's house.



"I was like, 'What are you doing at home from school?'" Robert Stubblefield said. "So, you know, I called my parents and I said, 'Hey, so you know, he's in my house now.'"



Katie's mother, Alesia, had dated a friend and left her at Robert's house. He tried to comfort his daughter, but Katie did not want to talk.



Robert and Alesia went out to talk to Alesia's friend, when Robert said it sounded like a bang. They entered and the bathroom door was closed. Katie was on the other side.



"I tried to open the door," Alesia said. "I said, 'Katie?' And nothing, and then I said, 'Katie.' I said, 'Are you okay?' And for the third time I said 'Katie', that's when my heart started to throb. "



"At that time I smelled gunpowder because it was obviously inside and you can smell it," said his brother. "And I knew exactly at that moment what happened."





Courtesy of the Stubblefield family
Katie Stubblefield (right) is seen here with her brother Robert Stubblefield (left) in this family photo.

In an impulsive adolescent instant, Katie took her brother's hunting rifle, tucked it under her chin and pulled the trigger.



"I screamed, 'Katie, no!' My mother tried to get in. I pushed her, "said Robert Stubblefield. "She was dead as far as I was concerned."



Alesia called her husband to work to share that Katie had left. Robb ran to the house, where the first responders initially feared the worst. But suddenly there was hope.



"They arrive there, and the next thing we hear, through a string of voices, is: 'She's alive, we have a pulse,'" said Robb Stubblefield. "And so, the whole world became a penny."



Katie was quickly taken to the emergency room. Somehow, she could still talk.



"When I was in the emergency room ... she said: 'Tell my mom and dad that I love her, that I love them, I'm sorry,'" said her father. "It took a lot of strength."



Not knowing if he would succeed, the doctors began to reconstruct Katie's disfigured face. From the first night she was taken to the hospital, Robb Stubblefield said that the trauma surgeon told them that a face transplant would be her best chance of normalcy again.



"He said, 'This is the worst wound I've seen, and I think the only thing that will bring back life will be a face transplant,'" Stubblefield said. "That was the first time we heard that term."



After a month at a trauma hospital in Memphis, Katie was transferred to the Cleveland Clinic. Plastic surgeon Brian Gastman was the first to see her. He said at the time that he was not sure that Katie would survive, but he was impressed by his will to live.



"Katie was a fighter, I think this was a unique and unique event in her life, and she was willing to overcome it," Gastman said. "Not only to be alive, but to live his life."





To play
Meet Katie Stubblefield, the youngest recipient of face transplant in the United States.



Cleveland Clinic    is where the first facial transplant surgery was performed in the US UU., Led by Frank Papay, president of plastic surgery at the hospital, in 2008. Since then, the team has learned a lot about this type of surgery. Before Katie's case, the hospital had made two more face transplants.



"And we learned a lot about what is needed," Papay said. "Not just the surgery of a face transplant, but later, what is needed to control these patients, what is needed for the family and the support group to help control these patients."



Gastman was part of the team that performed the second facial transplant from the Cleveland Clinic. He said Katie was not the first transplant patient to have attempted suicide.



"At 17, 18, without any history of depression, with the kind of family support she has, it seemed that she had just done something impulsive," she said. "We see people doing impulsive things all the time, we just do not know that much, because they do not end up in Katie's situation and then they lead to something as fantastic as a face transplant."





Courtesy of the Stubblefield family
Katie Stubblefield is seen here with her family the day of her face transplant surgery before the procedure took place at the Cleveland Clinic.

When Katie first arrived in Cleveland four years ago, she and her family moved to the Ronald McDonald house to be near the hospital for Katie's constant attention, including more than 17 surgeries before the face transplant.



For one of those operations, the doctors made a 3D model of Katie's sister's jaw to help them rebuild her face.



The surgical team also took skin from his leg to help rebuild his nose. Meanwhile, they waited for a donor's face to be available.



Katie could have survived with the face that the team could rebuild for her, but she wanted to feel normal again, even if that meant risking serious complications, or even her life.



In March 2016, he was officially included in the face transplant list. She and her family waited patiently.



"She said, 'Well, then I'll have to get the best reconstruction and I still want to live,'" said Robb Stubblefield. "He did not just want a face back, he wanted to work ... his life back."





To play
Surgeon supervising the care of the youngest face transplant recipient in the US USA: "Katie was a fighter"

Two years ago, National Geographic began documenting Katie and her family while they waited for a donor for their September cover story, "Katie's Face."



In May 2017, after one year of being on the transplant list, a potential donor emerged.



Her name was Adrea Schneider, a 31-year-old single mother who had battled addiction and died of an overdose.



"According to all her facial features, size, age and basic orthology, she is a very good candidate," said Gastman. "She's 31 years old, she's about nine years older than Katie, she's individual, it's a good size combination."



Schneider had been raised by her grandmother, Sandra Bennington, who had to make the profound decision of the donation. Schneider was registered as an organ donor, so Bennington agreed.



"If Adrea was willing to donate her organs, why would she need a face?" Bennington told National Georgraphic. "I still struggle with that from time to time, it was something, I do not know, but this is the right thing so that someone else can have a better life, that's what made me make a decision."



The day before Katie's operation, the surgical team, consisting of more than 50 people, including 11 surgeons, met to perform the procedure.



Katie thanked Gastman for giving her a second chance at life before being taken to surgery on May 4, 2017. It was assumed that the planned 30-hour surgery would be for a partial face transplant, but around the 24th hour, the team He felt sure he could move forward with a complete transplant.



Gastman and Papay asked Katie's parents for permission to try the full-face transplant before proceeding. Robb and Alesia Stubblefield had to weigh what their daughter would want to have in a completely new face, instead of just a portion. They decided to look for a full face, and the surgical team tried.





Courtesy of the Stubblefield family
The plastic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Brian Gastman (standing, in the center) is seen here with Katie Stubblefield after his face transplant surgery.

After 31 hours at the table, with intricate nerve endings and restored blood vessels, Katie finally had her new face. Her parents and her brother were able to visit her in recovery later, and see her daughter's new face for the first time.



"I knew I was not going to look like her anymore, but I was still ... I was speechless," said Robert Stubblefield.





To play
The progress of the youngest face transplant recipient in the US UU Go from surgery prior to recovery today

Katie said she does not remember her accident that changed her life. But now, after more than a year of strenuous rehabilitation, Katie still has a long way to go.



"When I touch my face with my hand, I feel complete again," he told "Nightline." "I wanted to recover my face, and I was willing to do whatever was necessary to recover my face."



"Before my transplant, people looked at me as if it was unpleasant," Katie continued. But now "I can go out in a crowd, and people will simply see me as another person and not as a kind of monster."



Katie is still adapting to life with a new nose and lips, and a new perspective. Now that he is 22 years old, he has not yet recovered his vision, but said he is improving.



"I think I see shadows, silhouettes, figures," he said.





To play
A speech therapy session with the youngest face transplant recipient in the US UU

Four years after arriving for the first time in Cleveland, the Stubblefield still live in the house of Ronald McDonald. His parents supervise everything with Katie, from her therapy to her anti-rejection medications. But through the ordeal, it's clear to them that Katie has never lost her essence, and her wicked sense of humor.



"Obviously," said Robb Stubblefield, "she does not look like her former self, but her actions, her personality, her interests and everything are largely old Katie."





Courtesy of the Stubblefield family
Katie Stubblefield (left) is seen here with her father, Robb Stubblefield, (right) after her face transplant surgery.



Courtesy of Cleveland Clinic
Katie Stubblefield is seen here before and after her multiple surgeries, including a face transplant procedure.

Katie still has to undergo more procedures, including getting a new palate, which will allow her to improve her speech. But the health risks of being a facial transplant recipient are never far away.



Last month, Katie was rushed to the emergency room at the Cleveland Clinic because her feeding tube had fallen, leaving her with a painful wound in her side.



There are also extensive medical costs, which exceed one million dollars. Katie's operation and much of her care is being covered by the Department of Defense as part of her investigation to find ways to help wounded soldiers. Since it is still an experimental procedure, the insurance does not cover any of the costs related to Katie's face transplant.



"The type of wound I had, where I was located, the age factor, is so classic of what these soldiers go through," said Robb Stubblefield.





Courtesy of the Stubblefield family
Katie Stubblefield (right) is seen here with her brother Robert Stubblefield (left) after her face transplant surgery.

Katie had the opportunity to thank her donor's grandmother in person for giving her a new chance at a better life. Dr. Gastman said that his hope for Katie is to continue to improve in order to help others. According to the CDC, suicide is the third cause of death among young people between 10 and 24 years old, approximately 4,600 per year.



"My hope for her is that her articulation improves, and she can go there and tell that story," Gastman said. "A fleeting moment can lead to something so devastating, not only for you, but for your family, and you're seeing someone who survived."





Stephen Travarca / Cleveland Clinic
Katie Stubblefield is seen here after her face transplant surgery at the Ronald McDonald House in Cleveland, Ohio.

Katie now sees her life as a warning story to prevent suicide. She hopes that in the future she can go to counseling or teaching.



"I really want to help in every way I can," he said. "Life is an incredible gift, life is beautiful ... Find someone to talk to, someone to listen to because life is a wonderful gift."





This story will be presented on "Nightline" on Tuesday, October 2, at 12:35 a.m. ET. Watch the "Nightline" business days at 12:35 a.m. ET on ABC.

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