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NY Doctors Perform First Double Hands And Face Transplant 

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This Wednesday, doctors at NYU Langone Medical Center announced that after 23 long hours in surgery they had performed the first successful face and double hands transplant on 22-year-old Joe Dimeo.

Back in 2018, 20-year-old Joe Dimeo fell asleep at the wheel of his car on Route 22 in New Jersey, causing him to lose control, hit a curb and flip his vehicle over, completely engulfing it in flames. Luckily a bystander was able to pull Dimeo out of the car before it exploded, but the young adult still suffered third-degree burns over nearly 80% of his body. 

The damage was so severe that he was left without eyelids, ears, and parts of his fingers. The scarring from the burns limited his range of motion and partially covered his eyes making it difficult to see. It’s for these reasons that Dimeo was so motivated to work with his doctors in performing this historic surgery. 

Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez is the head of the team that completed the surgery, and told the media this Wednesday that Dimeo is “the most highly motivated patient [he’s] ever met.” The surgery actually occurred in August of last year, however, the team of doctors wanted to wait and ensure that Dimeo’s body wouldn’t reject the transplants before calling the surgery a complete success. 

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“There have been over a hundred hand transplants performed successfully, and close to 50 face transplants, so fundamentally there was no reason why they couldn’t occur together, successfully.”

There have only ever been two other attempts to complete a double hand and face transplant simultaneously worldwide but both were unfortunately unsuccessful. “We needed to avoid infection, we needed to have this operation occur as fast as possible, we had to be very selective with the donor, and we had to implement every state of the art technology that would ensure complete success of Joe’s operation, and that’s exactly what we did.”

“Joe is healthy, he’s young, he’s strong, he loves to exercise, he eats healthy, and he has that one special element which is going to be required for this operation, a high level of motivation and a tremendous sense of hope.”

The operation took 80 healthcare professionals spread across six surgical teams and two adjoining operating rooms to complete. One of the operating rooms was used to carefully retrieve the hands and facial tissue from the dying donor, which are then typically replaced with 3D prosthetics according to Rodriguez. 

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“We always begin the operation with a moment of silence to honor the donor family, to respect their great loss, to never forget the donations that have been made. In all these operations it’s important to recognize that someone must give up their life so that others can continue living,” Rodriguez said. 

In the other room Dimeo was being meticulously prepared to receive the transplants. The surgery itself is long, grueling, and dangerous, and if done incorrectly would have resulted in the end of Dimeo’s life as well. Rodriguez explained that for each hand they had to replace “21 tendons, three major nerves, five major vessels, and two major bones,” and that’s not even including the face. 

After 23 hours in surgery and 45 days in intensive care, followed by two months of impatient rehab, Dimeo learned to open his new eyelids, more his new hands, and smile for the first time in years. Dimeo also recently spoke with the press about wanting to share his story and tell people to never give up on life. 

“I want to share my story to give people hope in the world. I’d like to recognize the selflessness of my donor, and how none of this would be possible without his sacrifice. Thank you. I feel like I’ve been given a second chance at life. There’s no excuse to not be motivated, or not to do my therapy. My hands aren’t there yet. I have to keep practicing, it’s kind of like when you’re a baby, they’re just moving their hands all the time until they get that ability to do stuff. I’ve got new hands now, just like them. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel. You never give up.”

NYC Pizza

New York Pizza Shop Delivering Photos Of Shelter Dogs With Every Order

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New York is known for its pizza. Anyone who’s ever visited the state knows that while they’re here they need to try a genuine bagel, bacon egg and cheese, or slice of pizza. When it comes to the multitude of pizzerias scattered throughout New York, however, it can be hard to distinguish what makes a certain establishment unique. For one franchise based in Amherst, they’re making major social strides through their advocacy for shelter pet adoption. 

Just Pizza & Wing Co. is attaching flyers of adoptable furry friends to each of its pizza deliveries to help aid a community organization that promotes adoption over shopping for puppies at storefronts that likely get their animals from cruel puppy mills. The best part of the whole deal is Just Pizza is offering a $50 gift certificate to any customer who ends up adopting a dog because of the pizza box fliers. 

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Mary Alloy owns Just Pizza & Wings Co. with three of her children, and the idea to incorporate posters for available shelter dog’s trying to get adopted onto each pizza box came when Alloy and her kids began volunteering with the animal rights group, Niagara Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Alloy is no stranger to working with non-profit charity organizations, so volunteering to help protect animal rights seemed like a no-brainer for her and her family, and when an event coordinator whom Alloy had grown close to suggested using pizza boxes as a way to get more “advertising” for shelter dog adoptions, Alloy jumped at the opportunity. 

Kimberly LaRussa is the coordinator who’s worked with Alloy on implementing this new program which began distributing fliers this past Friday (2/28), and both the pizzeria and shelters are receiving a surge of new clientele, after 48 hours one puppy named Larry has already been adopted thanks to the collaboration!

“We’ve had a tremendous amount of interest and support from the community and beyond since the story went viral on Friday. Many people want to order a pizza just to get the shelter dog photo, other pizzerias have offered to put flyers on their pizza boxes, and so many people are tagging their friends and family. The shop is getting a lot more business, as well. While the restaurant usually uses about 600 to 800 boxes every week, it has already gone through 500 boxes since Friday,” LaRussa and Alloy said in an interview.

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As previously mentioned, Alloy is no stranger to working with charitable organizations and incorporating advocacy for them within her own business. She’s already heavily involved with hospice care, non-profit medical organizations, autism centers, children’s hospitals and other animal shelters as well throughout New York. 

Just Pizza & Wings Co. has nine locations throughout New York, and within each are dozens of donation boxes for various organizations. Alloy said she’s always wanted to work with the SPCA, but running her business obviously always took priority. Previously she provided food donations to events for the SPCA, but once her kids offered to help and the county approved of the program, they were able to do even more for these adoptable friends. 

Within the coming weeks, LaRussa and Alloy hope to begin printing fliers for adoptable cats to also include with future pizza orders, as you never know what customer might be more of a cat person or a dog person. Alloy also claimed that they will continue with this program “for as long as it takes to get every shelter animal adopted.” 

Alloy is hoping other pizzerias throughout the country will see her now viral story and implement the same type of charitable program for their local shelters, for now though, Larry the puppy has a pizzeria to thank for his new family.