Voice Box Transplant 'Miracle'

'Progress' can often be a double edged sword..

But in the medical world, 'progress' more often that not has positive conotations.


Brenda Jensen

 Today, the BBC reports here of another medical 'miracle'. Over the years, the boffins with brains have found how to translplant various organs in the human body to enable the continuation of life.

The first successful organ transplant was of the cornea in 1905. The kidney was first successfully transplanted in 1954, the pancreas in 1966, the liver in 1967, the heart again in 1967, the hand in 1998, and the first full facial transplant in July 2010.

Voicebox Transplant - Brenda Jensen's Miracle
Well now in America, after 11 years without a voice, Californian resident Brenda Jensen can talk once more with her own voice after a pioneering 18 hour operation on her voicebox proved successfull. It's only the second time a voicebox has been transplanted but the first time in history in which it has been done at the same time as the windpipe.

She has not been able to speak since 1999 when it was damaged during surgery. Since then, she has been unable to taste or smell food, could breathe only through a hole in her windpipe and could talk only with the help of an electronic voice box.

13 days after her operation, she was able to whisper her first words "Good morning, I want to go home". Slowly, her voice has stengthened and she is now able to speak for lond periods of time.

This is the story...



The Wonders of Modern Science
It's incredible that as a human race, we have become so sophisticated that we are able to achieve with success these complicated procedures.

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as I saw the news and this incredible story earlier. To imagine being without a voice for over 10 years and then, by a miraculous operation, to hear it once more must be an unbelievable sensation.

Well done to the surgeons that succeeded in this mind-boggling achievement. They are pioneers who follow in a long and proud line through history and through the 20th century especially.

Much of Mankind's greatest achievement have come from this - Science, Science, Science.