mrs_pell
06-08-2007, 08:45 PM
Surgery to give jawless boy a new face (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,279034,00.html)
A 17-year-old from Ireland, who was born without a jaw, is hoping that a rarely performed surgery will give him a new face to show the world.
Alan Doherty will undergo the first in a series of reconstructive surgeries at The Mount Sinai Medical Center beginning Monday. Doherty was born with an almost unheard of condition called otofacial syndrome, which rendered him with no jaw or chin.
He is one of only two people in the world known to have this condition.
It is being paid for through donations that have been raised by Doherty himself (who went door-to-door in Ireland asking people to help him get a new face) and The Physically Challenged Irish and American Youth Team Inc., chaired by New York attorney William Broderick, which brought the teen to the United States and arranged for his treatment.
“I met him last summer,” said Broderick. “He came over with a team that we brought from Ireland to play in the New York State physically challenged games.”
Doherty and Broderick first met in a refreshment tent at the games. Broderick asked Doherty if he wanted something like a drink or maybe something to eat.
“He said, ‘Mr. Broderick, can you get me a new face?’” Broderick recalled. “I wasn’t expecting that response. But how could I not help him? I said I’ll take you somewhere tomorrow and maybe I can get you a new face.”
He said he hopes to get just one thing out of his surgery.
“No one staring at me anymore,” he said with the help of his talking computer. I’ve “had enough of that.”
http://www.foxnews.com/images/289939/1_61_jawless_front_AlanDoherty.jpg
What a courageous young man!! Hopefully these surgeries will be successful!
A 17-year-old from Ireland, who was born without a jaw, is hoping that a rarely performed surgery will give him a new face to show the world.
Alan Doherty will undergo the first in a series of reconstructive surgeries at The Mount Sinai Medical Center beginning Monday. Doherty was born with an almost unheard of condition called otofacial syndrome, which rendered him with no jaw or chin.
He is one of only two people in the world known to have this condition.
It is being paid for through donations that have been raised by Doherty himself (who went door-to-door in Ireland asking people to help him get a new face) and The Physically Challenged Irish and American Youth Team Inc., chaired by New York attorney William Broderick, which brought the teen to the United States and arranged for his treatment.
“I met him last summer,” said Broderick. “He came over with a team that we brought from Ireland to play in the New York State physically challenged games.”
Doherty and Broderick first met in a refreshment tent at the games. Broderick asked Doherty if he wanted something like a drink or maybe something to eat.
“He said, ‘Mr. Broderick, can you get me a new face?’” Broderick recalled. “I wasn’t expecting that response. But how could I not help him? I said I’ll take you somewhere tomorrow and maybe I can get you a new face.”
He said he hopes to get just one thing out of his surgery.
“No one staring at me anymore,” he said with the help of his talking computer. I’ve “had enough of that.”
http://www.foxnews.com/images/289939/1_61_jawless_front_AlanDoherty.jpg
What a courageous young man!! Hopefully these surgeries will be successful!