three years after losing his limbs to deadly bacterial infection, the former professor of film production and screenwriting underwent a double arm transplant. On Tuesday, Lautzenheiser, 40, appeared at a press conference in Boston, his arms partially encased in plaster casts and splints, to thank the surgeons, nurses and staff of Brigham and Womens, as well as the donor. This person who is anonymous to me will always be as close to me as my own skin, he said. Its really an incredible gift. In September 2011 Lautzenheiser was already in organ failure when doctors at a hospital in Montana, where the young professor had just begun to teach,figured out what was causing the severe pain in his legs: Group A streptococcus. Toxic shock syndrome was shutting down his organs and a rampant necrotizing fasciitis was wantonly killing his muscles, tissue and skin. The only way to stop the infection was to cut it out. To save Lautzenheiser, surgeons amputated all four of his limbs, the left arm above the elbow, the right arm below the elbow, and both legs below the knee.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 00:59:43 +0000
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