BOSTON NEWS
December 22, 2009

“In April, we got a call that there was a heart and we went into the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He didn’t make it out,” said Susan Whitman, widow of the facial transplant donor. Before Whitman’s husband, Joseph Helfgot, died from complications of a heart transplant last April, he made it absolutely clear he wanted to be an organ donor in the event that the worst should happen.

“He came from a family of survivors, and he really valued the nature of life,” she said. “Helping other people, that was huge to him.” When Whitman was approached by doctor’s who wanted to use Joseph’s facial tissue for a new form of organ transplantation, her family knew exactly what to do.

“We talked about what Joseph would have wanted, and that’s what drove our decision,” she said.
The decision gave doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital the go ahead to perform Boston’s first facial transplant. The recipient, James Maki, was a local man who suffered a disfiguring accident after a fall under the third rail at a T stop. The 17-hour surgery gave him a new face.

“I just appreciate that I have the chance to start a new life,” Maki said during a press conference after the surgery.

Through new life and death, Susan and James forged a long-lasting bond.

“We see each other all the time. We spend a lot of time together,” Whitman said. To celebrate the miracle of organ donation, organ donors, including Helfgot, will be honored during the Rose Bowl Parade New Year’s Day. Donor families and recipients will be onboard the Donate Life float. Whitman and her entire family will be there to show their support.

“I’m there to really encourage people to make that tough decision to become a facial donor if they’re asked,” she said. “ “There are all of these people that are the donors, but without the donors there would be no organ transplants this is a way to commemorate that gift.”

What often gets overshadowed in this story is the donor heart that Helfgot received was re-recovered and sent to another recipient who is living a full life, according to Whitman. Also, Helfgot donated two other organs to science.

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