Mar. 11--Nine years ago a mail bomb exploded in her hands.
Doctors said the blast should have killed retired Air Force Master Sgt. Janet McWilliams, who was then 50 years old. Her right eye was damaged, as were her lungs, torso and right hand.
Her left hand was blown off. Only after years of rehabilitation and a slew of surgeries did the Texas woman realize doctors might be able to give her a new hand.
That's where WellSpan Health's Dr. Jack Ingari, a microvascular surgeon for WellSpan Orthopedics, came in.
McWilliams contacted doctors she'd known for years. Among them was Ingari, a retired Air Force colonel who'd spent his military career performing intricate surgery.
He would join five colleagues in San Antonio, Texas, to perform a
nine-hour hand transplant surgery on McWilliams. The surgery would become the 10th hand transplant in the United States and one of 44 worldwide. It would be the first performed on a woman.
Ingari on Wednesday discussed risks and benefits of the transplant performed Feb. 17 on McWilliams at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio.
He was familiar with McWilliams and knew the story about the bomb that was planted at the 342nd Training
Squadron headquarters at Lackland Air Force Base.
McWilliams was targeted that July day in 2001 because she'd set in motion the discharge of a recruit, Brandon Walters, for erratic behavior.
Authorities later found bomb-making materials in Walters' possession; he was arrested on federal charges including assaulting a federal officer in the performance of her duties and maliciously damaging a federal building, according to military reports. In 2002, he was found guilty and sentenced to 90 years in prison, according to reports.
Recovery: McWilliams, meanwhile, continued her recovery. She underwent 29 surgeries and painful rehabilitation -- physical and emotional. Her left arm had been fitted with prosthesis; she had limited use of her right index finger and thumb.
The 59-year-old's desire, Ingari said, was to again wear her wedding ring on her left hand.
Ingari said she went through a series of tests and interviews before doctors determined she was a good candidate for a hand transplant. Another several months passed before a donor became available, as the hand must not belong to a smoker and the skin color and blood types must match.
It also must be attached within six hours, meaning the donated limb had to be within close proximity of the hospital.
Ingari said his job was to reattach bone and tendons, while others worked to restore blood flow. The surgery, he said, was successful, and McWilliams is nearing the end of her one-month recovery in the hospital.
She'll remain on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life, but Ingari said the benefits in this case far outweigh the risks of immunosuppressant therapy on the body. He says transplant technology works for hands rather than legs or feet because prosthetics for those limbs provide real function.
Prosthetics for hands offer some movement -- some people can tie shoes with hook devices on prosthetic hands -- but no sensory ability. He says McWilliams will begin to experience sensation in her hand within six or seven months.
And there is danger of rejection, at which point McWilliams would exchange the new limb for prosthesis.
"What's the value of a new hand," Ingari said. "In her words, 'It's priceless.'"
-- Reach Kathy Stevens at 505-5437 or kstevens@yorkdispatch.com.
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