CLEVELAND — A 21-year-old woman has become the youngest person in the U.S. to receive a full-face transplant three years after surviving a suicide attempt.<br /><br />National Geographic reports that Katie Stubblefield was 18 when she shot herself with a hunting rifle. The bullet went through her forehead, nose, sinuses, and jaw, and damaged her eyes.<br /><br />Doctors in Memphis managed to save her life, but weren't able to close her wounds. Stubblefield was later moved to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where surgeons crafted her a new nasal passage, and rebuilt her jaw and skull using bone grafts and titanium.<br /><br />A distraction device was attached to her facial bones and tightened daily to move her eyes into better alignment.<br /><br />Once a suitable donor was found, doctors removed the face and transplanted it onto Stubblefield, connecting nerves and blood vessels in a grueling 31-hour procedure.<br /><br />She was discharged in August 2017 after a nearly three-month long recovery period, but will need to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life.<br /><br />The brave survivor plans to attend online college and go into counseling, in hopes that she can raise awareness about suicide prevention.<br /><br />For now, she's continuing to undergo physical and occupational therapy, on top of seeing a speech therapist and taking Braille lessons.
