Kingwood mother prepares for double arm transplant

The hands of Dr. Simon Talbot create a mold of Katy Hayes' amputated right arm in preparation for Katy's double arm transplant at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. Doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital have approved Katy Hayes of Kingwood, Texas, for a double arm transplant. The 43-year-old mother of three would be the first person in the United States to receive a transplant of both arms above the elbow. less The hands of Dr. Simon Talbot create a mold of Katy Hayes' amputated right arm in preparation for Katy's double arm transplant at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. Doctors at Brigham and Women's ... more Photo: Billy Smith II, Chronicle Photo: Billy Smith II, Chronicle Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Kingwood mother prepares for double arm transplant 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

Katy Hayes has no illusions about the countless risks she faces as the first person in the U.S. to have someone else's arms and hands transplanted onto her body.

After all, the 43-year-old Kingwood mother of three has already experienced losing every one of her own limbs.

A flesh-eating infection invaded her body shortly after the birth of her last child two years ago, forcing doctors to amputate her arms and legs above the knees and elbows, leaving behind only small stubs.

Katy's eyes glistened and her voice cracked recently as she recalled being quizzed by a medical team at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard University teaching affiliate in Boston, about what motivated her quest for transplants.

"I want my life back," she answered without hesitation. "I want to hold my last child before she's grown - and she's already 2. If anybody tells me 'no,' I'll just go to the next hospital. 'No' is not an option."

Her husband, Al Hayes, who plays in a rock band and teaches music, supports her decision: "Death is not the worst thing that can happen here. What about having to resign herself to the life she has now? It's our job to keep moving forward."

Fighting spirit

Katy continues to surprise her doctors with her fighting spirit. They never expected her to survive that flesh-eating infection. Her caretakers were stunned when she awoke after being comatose for a month to discover she was now a quad amputee.

More Information Donations to support Katy Hayes can be made at: www.katyhayesfund.com.

"I have no regrets. I'm glad to be alive," she said, though she admits to indulging in an occasional pity party. "I'm only human. But I passed Brigham's psychological exam. I don't have prolonged dark days."

She's also had to undergo a battery of physical exams to assure she's in good health before she's placed on the donor list possibly as early as next month. At this point, she still has a few issues to clear up such as repairing some teeth and removing anything that might cause kidney stones, said Dr. Simon Talbot, who heads the transplant team at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

While using another person's hands and arms seems like pure science fiction, Katy points out that a farmer had both his arms successfully replaced in Germany four years ago. Karl Merk lost his arms above the elbow in a combine harvesting accident and received new ones from a teenager who died in a car accident.

Trickier surgery

Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, chairman of the plastic and reconstructive surgery department at Johns Hopkins University, said attaching full arms can be much trickier than the more common hand transplants below the elbow. That's because new nerves - which use the arm's old nerves as conduits or channels - must grow a longer distance to reach the hand.

Lee led the first doctor team in the U.S. that attached one full arm to a patient, Chris Pollock. Katy will become the first patient to have two full arm transplants. At the same time, nearly 50 single and double hand transplants have been performed worldwide, research shows.

"The nerve in the arm will grow only about an inch a month. It can take a year or two to reach the hand. Functional recovery is less predictable," Lee said, noting Pollock can now grasp things.

A team of some 40 medical personnel will be required to connect Katy's new arms in a surgical procedure expected to take at least 15 hours. Doctors must first meticulously attach the bone with metal plates, and then with the help of microscopes suture the arteries, veins, tendons and nerves.

What emboldens Katy, as she pushes forward with this historic surgery, is watching Internet videos of the German farmer. She's amazed to see him scratch his head, shake hands, lift weights and ride a bike.

But Katy, who used to own a spa where she enjoyed giving massages, also knows the surgical procedure is experimental and dangerous. A 27-year-old man, who was also a quad amputee, died this year after having a double-arm transplant in Turkey.

"I'll be their guinea pig," Katy acknowledged. "But I'll also be that pioneer in a new world who can one day talk to others about having transplants."

She and her husband think about others who could benefit from transplanted limbs, such as injured soldiers, diabetics and children with birth defects.

"We're told that 18 people have amputations every day," said her husband, Al.

Lengthy process

Doctors cannot guarantee how much Katy will be able to move or feel with her new arms.

"It's supposed to take three months healing and therapy before I can move the elbow," she said. Her arms will be supported by harness-like slings until the tissue heals.

While she doesn't expect to perform fine motor skills like buttoning a blouse, she does hope to do basic things like grab a cup, brush her teeth, hold a pen and hug someone. She also laughs about having a complete new set of fingerprints to identify herself.

But before undertaking this surgery, doctors had to be reassured that she wouldn't feel like some kind of Frankenstein monster using a stranger's limbs.

"I told them that the new arms look like freedom to me. I see them as gifts," she said.

The hospital is donating its medical services for Katy. But the Hayes family is holding fundraisers to help cover their living expenses in Boston and allow her husband to assist her recovery after surgery.

When it's all over, despite her challenging disabilities, Katy believes she will have given her three children a gift that not everyone can.

"When you're up against an obstacle, you can still get through it," she said.

cindy.horswell@chron.com