Veteran Gets Penis Transplant

| October 15, 2019

When “Ray” stepped on a roadside bomb, his next memory could’ve been something we watch or read regarding near-death experiences. Except, he could’ve been one of those who would not be able to relate the tale. He may have been killed by the blast or died from his injuries.

Luckily, his experience was different. It started when stepped on a roadside bomb then noticed the extent of his injuries. As horrific as this experience was for him, he considers himself lucky. He understands that much worse could’ve happened.

From MIT Technology Review:

Ray had been a US Navy corpsman trudging through Afghanistan when Taliban fighters ambushed his squad in 2010. As he rushed to give first aid to a downed soldier, he stepped on a roadside bomb. “I remember everything froze and I was upside down,” he says. “I remember thinking a quick thought: ‘This isn’t good.’ And then I was on my back.” The butcher’s bill was steep: both of his legs up to and including the thigh were blasted off, along with his penis, his scrotum, and an upside-down-U-shaped chunk of his abdominal wall. Only a handful of people know the full extent of his injuries.

According to the article, the traditional way to treat this is to take tissues, nerves, and blood vessels from a forearm or thigh… Then transplant the result to the groin. A pump is needed to get an erection. This was something that Ray could’ve benefited from; however, he was recommended for an actual transplant.

The linked article goes into detail with his journey to get this transplant. It touches upon the battle that many combat-wounded veterans still fight.

Category: Veterans in the news

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Mason

That’s pretty incredible, from a technological standpoint. The first successful organ transplant ever was in 1954, which is not that long ago.

Though this does make me wonder if checking organ donor on my driver’s license application might need to come with an asterisk.

11B-Mailclerk

It’s not your ass at risk….

Graybeard

Glad they are able to do this now, medically.

But it begs a question: When will they be able to do a balls transplant so the GOs can get theirs back?

Roh-Dog

Boom!

First recipients, Congress then SOCOM GOs.

Anonymous

Oww. Happy to know this is feasible now though. (Even better if lifetime anti-rejection drugs wouldn’t be needed, but there’s still further to go… )

Cameron Kingsley

There may come a day where organs can be grown in a vat with only a few cells which may not be to far in the future.

Jay

From what I read in the article, he received a shot of marrow cells from the donor to help with anti-rejection. He takes ONE pill a day now along with strict hygiene regimen (washing hands before handling, etc). All things considered, thats pretty impressive

Veritas Omnia Vincit

Some injuries I personally would prefer to not survive. This might be one of them.

I’m glad however he has regained some measure of his own body through this transplant and I hope he enjoys a long life and good success with this transplant.

Roh-Dog

I really don’t what to do this, as it’s not a laughing matter, but this is just a new kind of something.
F it, going in: So he no longer has to sit on his off-hand to give himself ‘the stranger’.
Who’s joining me in Hell?!

11B-Mailclerk

Not even with your….

5th/77th FA

“…and someone else pushing.”

Good luck “Ray.” Modern medicine and technology, ain’t it wonderful.

SFC D

So he’s had an addadicktome…

Hell awaits, save me a seat on the bus.

ninja

If anyone is interested in viewing the procedure illustrated by animation, please click on the link below. There is a YouTube Video of the animation, but one has to sign in to view it.

“On March 26, 2018 a team of nine plastic surgeons and two urological surgeons at Johns Hopkins Medicine performed the world’s first total penile and scrotum transplant. In a 14-hour surgery, the entire penis, scrotum (without testicles) and partial abdominal wall of a deceased donor was transplanted to a veteran wounded in Afghanistan. This animation illustrates the transplantation process.”

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/video/13/worlds-first-total-penile-and-scrotum-transplant–johns-hopkins-medicine

Sparks

May God bless this very brave young man. As all Corpsmen and Medics, they will run into danger to aid the wounded. In Vietnam, they were on the shortlist to be targeted first. Yet they never faltered or hesitated. I am rarely amazed or surprised by things anymore. But this truly surprised and amazed me. I wish this young man and his family all the best.

11B-Mailclerk

Well said.

JTB

To bad Ron Jeremy didn’t die in the coming days before his Transplant Surgery…

A Proud Infidel®™️

TALK ABOUT passing on a high mileage part!!!

Berliner

Forgive me but two unrelated thoughts come to mind…

1… For the patients sake I hope the donor wasn’t hung like a hamster.

2… Finally a charity Chelsea Manning can donate to.

Some Guy

I’m a bit torn on this. On the one hand I don’t think I would want to continue living without a dick, so I definitely get the psychological need to seek out a transplant.
But on the other hand I can’t stop keep thinking about how the he’ll essentially be touching some other guy’s dick for the rest of his life. Is that gay? Would he be cucking himself when he gets intimate with his wife? Would he even have any feeling down there?
I know these seem like silly questions, but think about what you would do in that situation. I’m not sure I would choose living on like that over suicide.

26Limabeans

Could be his goal is to be able to piss out of
a real penis with sex being a distant second.

My sister once said “sex is over rated, a good
dump is far more enjoyable”

11B-Mailclerk

“Where are my fucking legs?” “How do you fucking live without legs?” might be a bit more heavily on his mind.

He has to be one strong dude to have made it this far.

Some Guy

Agree 100%. The strength required to keep on going after something like that is truly awe inspiring.
The missing legs, while certainly debilitating, didn’t seem that big of an issue IMO. Getting around in public is possible with a wheelchair in most places and advances in medicine are bringing functional cyborg legs within reach. Remodeling the home for better accessibility sucks, but IIRC, the VA covers that cost.

IDC SARC

I dunno. I remember treating a soldier that had similar injuries and his main concern was whether of not his dick and balls were involved..he was reassured when in fact it was found that though his legs were mostly gone and what was left required immediate amputation his package was intact.

He was a tough SOB.

Some Guy

True, can’t discount the comfort of normal bodily functions. I’ve never even had a catheter, but descriptions of a friend are enough to appreciate normal urination. Can’t imagine how living with one for years must feel like.
But as for the dump, with respect to your sister, I’m not sure I would describe the act itself is as enjoyable as the feeling of relief afterwards. The first dump after a week of MREs feels like going a couple of rounds with the BTTJ gang. But man do you feel like you can float once it’s all over! Either way, IMO it doesn’t even come close to sex.

Some Guy

Doh! This was meant in reply to 26Limabeans.

E-4 Mafia 4 Life

I just now expelled a Chicken-A-La-King MRE from February 5th, 1991.

Steve Weeks

All that I have to say is that Ray is a hell of a Man. May God Bless Him.

Bob Drennan

I guess he can say he’d wouldn’t fuck her with your dick- and mean it.

E-4 Mafia 4 Life

If that happened to me, I would hope my buddies gave me a sack full of live grenades and catapulted me at the enemies.
It seems trivial but IT’S NOT.
Some might say that the penis does not make you a man. It’s not everything but it’s too significant a part.
Imagine going thru the rest of your life knowing that you don’t have one and every other man does. And – I’m guessing – very few women would accept it.
What did Christopher Reeves’s wife do when his C1 and C2 vertebrae were disconnected. Did she remain celibate or was it reasonable for her to have sex outside her marriage?
This situation didn’t exist 100 years ago. Break a c-spine and your dead.
Prior to Iraq 2 and Afghanistan, step on an IED and you died.
Thoughts?

ninja

E-4 Mafia 4 Life:

Christopher Reeve and his Wife, Dana DID have an intimate relationship after his accident:

https://nypost.com/1999/10/11/reeves-intimate-details/

“Christopher Reeve’s gutsy wife says she and the paralyzed star still have sex – but sadly admits that it’s “one-sided.”

“What we do is physically intimate, but it is not as fulfilling in many ways for either of us,” Dana Reeve says in the November issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal.”

“In previous interviews, the quadriplegic “Superman” star has said he can still get erections.”

“But Dana says that their lovemaking sessions are still tough going.”

On August 9, 2005, Reeve announced that, although she had never smoked cigarettes, she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. She died on March 6, 2006, at the age of 44 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Rest In Peace, Dana Reeve.

Club Manager, USA ret.

I could sure use one of those transplants. At my age everything above the waist works fine but I still “got game”.