Off The Record
18-year-old puts gun against forehead and pulls the trigger: when I realize why my heart hurts
Teenage years can be rough, and many would try anything they could to fit in.
You want everyone to like you, be the “big shot” in the hallways, but as we get older those moments remain just a memory, and the things seemingly important become so trivial.
But during high school we learn one of the toughest challenges in life, as well as disappointments. One extreme example is Katie Stubblefield.
Katie always dreamed of having a boyfriend. When she did, something happened that would change the whole course of her life. She found a text message from another girl in her boyfriend’s cell phone and made an impulsive decision that she’d regret for the rest of her life.
We know making a decision out of an impulse is wrong, but that’s what Katie did. She rushed home to her brother’s house, picked up and gun and pulled the trigger.
She was sure that she was going in the afterlife, but that day someone was looking over her. However, her face was gone.
In an emotional interview with BBC, Katie’s father recalled what doctors said in the hospital.
“She’ll never eat, she’ll never drink, she’ll never bathe herself, she’ll never converse, she’ll be a vegetable, she’ll just be in a skilled facility for the rest of her life.”
The thought that Katie would spend the rest of her days living as a vegetable was tough for them, but the hardest part was that she did this to herself over a breakup.
“I had complete recollection of what I had done. I thought, ‘How have I done this to myself?’ But more importantly, ‘How have I done this to my family?’” Katie said.
Thanks to an amazing team of doctors, a lot of questions had a positive answer. Katie was given a second chance: the option of transplanting a brand new face. Katie wasn’t sure about the idea, but she didn’t have much choice.
“There was a chance to get my life and my face back at some point. At first, it was a very difficult decision because I knew someone would have to pass in order for me to have that face,” she said.
The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of having a new face. After 22 surgeries and 22 operations, it was time for the complex transplant.
After 30 hours and 11 experts working on the case, the results to move Adrea Schneider’s face to Katie’s were better than anyone hoped for!
Watch the video below and see for yourself:
