face transplant (repost)

Thursday, February 09, 2006
Face transplant Current mood: amused Category: Life
Ok, so the world's first ever face transplant recepient spoke to the press and public early this week. For those of you who don't read or watch the news, she had her face pretty much bitten off by a dog. The transplanted "face" was a circlular area from the nose, around the cheeks, and down to her chin. Now imagine, she'd been without all of that, or let's just say it was mostly mangled and not recognizible as a face for a while. Most people would even think she couldn't live like that, but she did.
So these doctors in Europe give this lady a new face, from a cadaver donor, and poof! She has a new lease on life. She has a nose, cheeks and a functioning mouth and lips again! Of course as with any transplant, she has to be on anti-rejection medication, since her body knows the "face" is not hers. Apparently she's doing well. So well in fact, that she's decided to go back to her old habit of smoking. Her doctors have warned her that this can make her body reject the precious gift that someone literally died so that she could have. The media made a HUGE ordeal about this, and the first thing I thought (along with most of the people who heard it I'm sure) was "What is this lady doing? She's got a new lease on life, and she's throwing it away by doing something that she knows can kill her or make her life miserable."
Right after I thought this, it was like God thumped me on my head and said, "Hello, that's what I did for you. I gave you a new life, and you keep on going back and doing things that you know will make you miserable, and keep you from healing the pains that I died to save you from."
So, thanks and kudos to the face transplant lady. Everytime I see or hear anything about you or any future odd transplant, I'll think of how my Saviour died for me, rose from the dead, and gave me, a sinner in the need of grace a "grace transplant". And it's there for me all of the time. 2 Corinthians 5:17