WARNING - POTENTIALLY DISTURBING CONTENT After attempting suicide three years ago, 21-year-old Katie Stubblefield became the youngest person in the US to receive a face transplant.
Video screencap
The then-18-year-old Katie faced a number of emotion hurdles, having just found out her boyfriend had been texting another girl and recently having her appendix and gallbladder removed in surgery for gastrointestinal problems, she tried to commit suicide by shooting herself with a .308-caliber hunting rifle in a bathroom of her Mississippi home in March 2014.
Click to Gallery
"I am able to touch my face now, and it feels amazing," said Katie. Her father, Robb, helps to decipher some of her thoughts, as Katie still has some trouble speaking clearly: "You take it for granted, the different components of our faces -- the bone, the tissue, the muscle, everything -- but when it's gone, you recognize the big need. Then when you receive a transplant, you're so thankful."
WARNING - POTENTIALLY DISTURBING CONTENT After attempting suicide three years ago, 21-year-old Katie Stubblefield became the youngest person in the US to receive a face transplant.
The then-18-year-old Katie faced a number of emotion hurdles, having just found out her boyfriend had been texting another girl and recently having her appendix and gallbladder removed in surgery for gastrointestinal problems, she tried to commit suicide by shooting herself with a .308-caliber hunting rifle in a bathroom of her Mississippi home in March 2014.
Katie's older brother, Robert, heard the gunfire found her covered in blood, and recalled, "her face was gone".
“I had never thought of doing that before,” Ms Stubblefield said of her attempt to kill herself. “I felt so guilty that I had put my family through such pain. I felt horrible.”
"I was standing there thinking, 'What do you mean, a face transfer? What do you do?' "
"I had no clue what a face transplant was," Katie said. "When my parents helped explain everything to me, I was very excited to get a face again and to have function again."
Katie waited for a suitable donor for over a year before Andrea Schneider, a 31-year-old organ donor who had recently passed away, was found as a match. Ms Schneider's grandmother, Sandra Bennington, made the decision to donate Andrea's face.
The transplant, which was performed by 11 surgeons in the span of a 31-hour surgery began May 4, 2017, and aimed to restore Stubblefield’s face and functions such as chewing, breathing and swallowing.
"I am able to touch my face now, and it feels amazing," said Katie. Her father, Robb, helps to decipher some of her thoughts, as Katie still has some trouble speaking clearly: "You take it for granted, the different components of our faces -- the bone, the tissue, the muscle, everything -- but when it's gone, you recognize the big need. Then when you receive a transplant, you're so thankful."
Video screencap
Katie's older brother, Robert, heard the gunfire found her covered in blood, and recalled, "her face was gone".
Having been left heavily disfigured in the failed suicide attempt, having lost her forehead, nose, sinuses, mouth except for the corners of her lips and much of the bones that make up the jaws and front of her face. Her eyes remained, but they were askew and badly damaged.
Video screencap
“I had never thought of doing that before,” Ms Stubblefield said of her attempt to kill herself. “I felt so guilty that I had put my family through such pain. I felt horrible.”
"There was an older trauma surgeon who basically told us, 'It's the worst wound that I've ever seen of its kind,' and he said, 'The only thing I can think of that would really give her functional life again is a face transplant,' " Robb Stubblefield, Katie's father, said.
Video screencap
"I was standing there thinking, 'What do you mean, a face transfer? What do you do?' "
Up to that point, none of the family had heard of this medical procedure, which involved transplanting all or parts of the facial tissue, including skin, bone, nerves and blood vessels from a donor cadaver onto the recipient.
Video screencap
"I had no clue what a face transplant was," Katie said. "When my parents helped explain everything to me, I was very excited to get a face again and to have function again."
Video screencap
Katie waited for a suitable donor for over a year before Andrea Schneider, a 31-year-old organ donor who had recently passed away, was found as a match. Ms Schneider's grandmother, Sandra Bennington, made the decision to donate Andrea's face.
Andrea Schneider (Video screencap)
The transplant, which was performed by 11 surgeons in the span of a 31-hour surgery began May 4, 2017, and aimed to restore Stubblefield’s face and functions such as chewing, breathing and swallowing.
Video screencap
"I am able to touch my face now, and it feels amazing," said Katie. Her father, Robb, helps to decipher some of her thoughts, as Katie still has some trouble speaking clearly: "You take it for granted, the different components of our faces -- the bone, the tissue, the muscle, everything -- but when it's gone, you recognize the big need. Then when you receive a transplant, you're so thankful."
Video screencap
WASHINGTON (AP) — Actor Ashley Judd and singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc, who both lost loved ones to suicide, on Tuesday helped the Biden administration promote its new national strategy to prevent suicide.
Judd's mother, country star Naomi Judd, died nearly two years ago. Blacc's frequent collaborator, Tim Bergling, died in 2018.
Both were on hand as Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, helped unveil the Democratic administration's blueprint for reducing suicides in the United States. Some 132 people a day kill themselves, he said.
“We’re here today because we know that we can and will change this,” Emhoff said. “Suicide is preventable.”
———
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
———
Judd's mother had lived most of her 76 years with an untreated sickness and, on the day she died, “the disease of mental illness was lying to her," Ashley Judd said during a discussion moderated by Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy with Blacc and Shelby Rowe, executive director of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.
“She deserved better,” Judd said about her mother. Judd said she also has suffered from depression and has had a different outcome because of treatment.
“I carry a message of hope,” she said.
Asked what people can do to help someone in crisis, Rowe said people shouldn't worry about “if you're saying the right thing. Just say something and show up.”
Blacc suggested that people offer a “moment of joy” when they do reach out, such as a memory that sparks laughter or a song. He also encouraged people to remember that they are “the light.”
“There's no such thing as too much love. Let's give as much as we can," he said, before he led the audience in singing the chorus from “This Little Light of Mine.”
Ashley Judd, right, sitting with Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, left, speaks during an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Ashley Judd heads to her seat before the start of an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy speaks during an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, left, sitting next to Ashley Judd, right, speaks during an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc, right, sings during an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. He is joined by, from left, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Ashley Judd, and Shelby Rowe, Executive Director of the Suicide Prevention Research Center. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc speaks, right, speaks during an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. He is joined by, from left, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Ashley Judd, and Shelby Rowe, Executive Director of the Suicide Prevention Research Center. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc speaks during an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff speaks during an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Ashley Judd, left, listens to Shelby Rowe, right, Executive Director of the Suicide Prevention Research Center, during an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Shelby Rowe, center, Executive Director of the Suicide Prevention Research Center, flanked by Ashley Judd, left, and singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc, right, finishes speaking during an event on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, with notable suicide prevention advocates. The White House held the event on the day they released the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention to highlight efforts to tackle the mental health crisis and beat the overdose crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
