Burns Victim Seeks Face Transplant

24 year old Dallas Wiens is considered lucky to be alive, in November 2008 Wiens’ head was severely burned and all the flesh from the crown of his head to the tip of his chin was seared off.

Weins had been working at a church in Forth Worth, Texas. He was outside the church using a cherry picker to reach a high window he was repairing when his head came into contact with a high voltage overhead cable. Weins’ head burst into flames and his face was completely burned off in seconds.

Weins spent the following three months in an induced coma, during which time he underwent more than 20 operations to repair the damage to his face. All of Weins’ features had been burned off, his face is now a smooth surface with three slight indentations where his nose and eyes used to be and a lipless slit for a mouth. Despite his terrible injuries surgeons are hailing Weins’ recovery as a success, the chances of his survival were so slim.

Although glad to be alive, Weins doesn’t want to stop here, his hopes have now turned to receiving a new face through ground breaking facial transplant surgery. The technique is still very new, only two such procedures have been successfully carried out in the United States and the treatment carries high risks and a high financial cost.

“I understand the risks,” Wiens said. “But if I opt for a transplant, I figure what I’ve already lived through is far worse” Weins said.

“If that’s the route I go, God’s going to lead me and take care of me.”

If Weins is lucky enough to be considered a candidate the surgery itself will be free of charge, but it will require Weins to move to Boston for at least six months whilst he undergoes tests and awaits a suitable donor.

“It would cost us about $2,500 a month for living expenses, plus travel costs and anything else,” said his grandmother, Sue Peterson. “We’ve already paid everything we can pay toward this.”

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