Photo above: ‘PERFECT COUPLE’: Mr Dallas Wiens recently popped the
question to Miss Jamie Nash.
UNITED STATES - He is the first person in the US to receive a
full-face transplant. And now, he is set to marry another burn
patient he met at a hospital support group.
Mr Dallas Wiens, 27, from Texas, recently popped the question to
Miss Jamie Nash, who was severely burned in a near-fatal car
accident in 2010.
The accident left
her with burns over 70 per cent of her body. She was burnt to the
bone on some parts of her body, and had to have four toes
amputated.
Miss Nash, who
also has severe burns on her back and legs, admits that she was
sending a text message when she drove off the road. She often
speaks to young people about the dangers of texting and
driving.
So far, she has
undergone more than 30 surgeries to restore her mobility and
quality of life.
Mr Wiens on the
other hand suffered a horrifying accident when his head touched a
high-voltage power line while painting the Ridglea Baptist Church
in November 2008.
His features
burned away and he was left blind, without lips, a nose or
eyebrows. Doctors said that Wiens would be likely paralysed from
the neck down and would never speak or produce enough saliva to eat
solid food.
However, his
strong spirit allowed him to make an unprecedented recovery and in
March 2011, a transplant team of more than 30 doctors performed a
full face transplant for 15 hours straight.
He received a new
nose, lips, skin, muscle and nerves from an anonymous donor, and
has had more than 38 surgeries so far.
He gained back the
ability to talk and smell, but the transplant, which was paid for
by the US military, was unable to restore his sight, reported The
Daily Mail.
Some nerves were
so badly damaged that he has only partial sensation on his left
cheek and the left side of his forehead.
In the months both
spent at Parkland Memorial Hospital's acclaimed burn's unit, the
two did not cross paths.
But on the fateful
day in the fall of 2011, the couple finally met at the hospital's
support group for severe burn patients.