Youngest Face Transplant Recipient in U.S. | National Geographic 

Katie Stubblefield is the youngest person to receive a face transplant in U.S. history. What aspect of her story resonates with you the most?

Respect to the doctors who gave their 100 percent in treating somebodys life .salute to these doctors ...........

Next week Friday i will have my heart surgery wish me luck guyss

I’m so grateful to be able to see, smell, taste, hear, touch, and breathe normally. And I feel bad for spending so much time picking apart my appearance when I have so many things to be joyful about.

Salute to the doctors who doing it fearless..

Doctors and Surgeons are a different kind of humans.

The fact that she tried to commit suicide by shooting herself, obviously she survived but her face was disfigured. The name of the donor is Andrea Schneider who died due to drug overdose but always wanted to became a donor. I'm shooketh

And here we are with no disabilities and yet complaining about what we don't have, she is already an inspiration I will for sure appericiate myself for what I have. Hope she recovers

A big thank you to the donor who gave Katie a chance of life.

Can we take a second to adress the fact that its even possible to take off your face and get a new one

I have a big surgery in December,Please pray for me. Edit:Wow the reply’s give me strength to go through my first surgery at 11.And also the reply’s tell there are still good people alive,Also I will tell how my surgery went...Today is the day 13/12/18 Edit 2:My surgery went well I couldn’t walk but I now can :D Edit 3: This is year later and forgot to see the replies and wow I’m truly overwhelmed.Thank y’all so much for the support and may god bless you people :).

Everytime I watch something like this, it reminds us how much we humans have achieved

She seems to be such a lovely woman. I really want to give her a big hug! Also, respect to the person who donated their face🙏🏻

It must feel strange for the doner’s family to see their daughter’s face on a other human being.

After read her story, i will never complain about my health and relationship condition anymore. Forgive me Lord for so much complaining even asking for died. Stay gratefull everyone, life is a gift.

the fact that doctors are now able to put someone else's face on you is so scary. who would've thought there will be a day where you can get your face changed.Watching this video makes me realise that we are literally so blessed and instead of hating yourself always be great full to god for giving you so much❤️

Humans are amazing. Shout out to those surgeons

Makes you step back and realize that the problems in your life may seem bad but are nothing compared to what others go through. Simply having a face is something to be appreciative of. God bless her.

I will never complain anything about my face again.

I saw this in the article that was posted in a book. She is so inspiring and I'm glad everything worked out. I'm also so happy that the other face transplant patients comforted her 🥰

It's creepy when you look in a mirror thinking that you're wearing a dead person's face

that’s scary that you can just take a face off of someone and put in on another person,, it totally seems like a horror film.

I'll never understand how doctors are able to actually do this and not get grossed out like props to them

I had to partially cover my eyes watching this. I pray the surgery was a success and that her recovery is going well. So much respect and gratitude for the doctors and especially to the donor. May she rest in peace.

she’s pretty funny for having gone through so much already in life. i hope she’s okay now ❤

My heart when Katie said "I get a second chance of life now"💔☹️

1:30 me to me: don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it me: to blow up and act like you don’t know nobody

医療の技術が日々進歩していくのは本当に素晴らしい事だと感じる😌

Oh Katie! Praying for a successful recovery. We are all standing in victory with you!!!

We need to start appreciating what we have

I am feeling more thankful now.

I'm amazed by what is possible with science. It is also amazing that they gave her a third chance, the second chance was saving her life.

I'm super happy for her, thanks national geographic for making this video

Thank you Nat Geo for being you. You may not see this but your open, raw, real, and most of the time emotional documentaries have gotten me through a lot. Please stay the same. Please. There is a community that loves you for what you are. In apart of that community.

I think doctors are really really amazing. Respect!

1:43 beat example of true friendship My eyes rolled down with happy tears 😍😍🥺🥺

Hope she will recover beautifully.

One family has a loss of a family member, one has a chance at a new life, it's bittersweet but Donors are Incredible people, Heroes to be willing to help others out to live on, as they pass away, much respect

I will start from today to be thankful of everything God has given me in this life. I don't wanna compare myself to other people anymore. I just wanna see where God will lead me. All the best for her future life.

How humanity has risen. Every single doctor, surgeon and anyone studying to become someone known in the medical field has my utmost respect. The fact that these doctors are able to stand in the face of something that seems impossible to fix is insane.

Human: she's ugly God : no she's beautiful

RU-vid is savage af its recommendeding face transplant for me fml

Here i am complaining about my life, things could always be worse and we all deserve a second chance. Get well soon and God Bless, Natl. Geo you're the GREATEST !! 😎

Next week Friday I will have my lung surgery wish me luck guys

Respect

This is history in the making. Amazing how far we’ve come in this world. National Geographic this is such a treat. Great work, as always.

It's amazing how far science and medicine has progressed. 100 years ago, people wouldn't be able to imagine the things we could do now. I wish I could be around to see what things humankind will come up with in the next 100 years.

Who needs superheroes when u have doctors like these

I wish doctors here in my place were as humble and friendly as these doctors.

Thanks to everyone making this possible for Katie. Praying for her!

This makes me think of the movie Wonder... "If you are given the choice to choose being right, or being kind. Choose kind..."

I love her relationship with his brother, it makes me cry.

I will forever be inspired by Katie and her story. Her bravery and optimism is something we could all learn from. Even in a time where most people would be scared, worried, anxious, she remained at peace and was grateful every step of the way. Thank you, Katie, for inspiring me. I am sending all my love your way, and here's to your next chapter of life.

Lord you remind me that my problems are actually nothing.

Y’all stop hatting there a lot of people out there who don’t get a second chance because the committed suicide you guy don’t know what she was going through at that time 🙄💕💕💕💕

Andrea Szneider is who’s face this originally was…..she died of a OD. Rest in peace angel, you’re a hero❤

All of you are just in awe, while I'm here thinking "the donor's body will be buried with no face 😕"

She deserves this “second chance” she’s been through a lot that’s for sure. Congratulations Katie.

Sending love from the Philippines Katie! ♥️ God bless you, your family and all the medical team! Thanks NG for this!

I don’t care what anyone says, both before and after the surgery, she was beautiful. Much love to her

"are you having any second thoughts?" "I get a second chance at life now" Hold up let me just get my tissues.

Heart touching, it's wonderful to see a person getting another chance!

I've read the article couples day ago on Twitter and crying. She's so young and beautiful. I'm happy for her, for her second chance. Have a great new chapter of life girl. 💙

Wow this is incredible. This is the type of medicine we too focus on. Not treating the symptoms and a band aid fix. These are what I call real doctors. Prayers for Katie, I hope she is alive and well.

Nobody will talk about the donor? I Do not know what happened to her, but it is beautiful to think how something sad as death can change someone else's life

This broke my heart... Thank you so much and rest in peace donor .. Bless your soul 😭

*katie’s story* Katie was an irrepressible little girl, her older sister, Olivia McCay, told me(doctor) “She was fearless, very fearless, and a lot of fun.” She developed a quick, sarcastic sense of humor, a trait she shared with her brother, Robert. But as she grew older, Olivia noticed, Katie put enormous pressure on herself to achieve. “She wanted to be the best in all of these sports that she’d never even tried before,” Olivia said. “She wanted to be the best academically. She studied for hours, all the time.” When Katie was in high school, the family made two major moves. Her sophomore year they moved from Lakeland, Florida, where she grew up, to Owensboro, Kentucky. She’d just settled in when they moved again, a year later, to Oxford, Mississippi. Her father, Robb, who’d been a minister and educator, and Alesia took jobs teaching at a small Christian school. Katie enrolled as a junior and fell in love with a classmate. They started talking about marriage. “This one was just so serious for so young,” Olivia said. “She just grew up so fast that year.” After the moves, she said, “I think she was ready to have some stability and some consistency.” She didn’t get them. In her senior year Katie’s world unraveled. She was already contending with chronic gastrointestinal troubles and surgery. She’d had her appendix taken out the year before, and complications led to the removal of her gallbladder in January of her senior year. Two months later, the Stubblefields told me, the school’s headmaster informed them that he would not renew their contracts and then abruptly fired Alesia. Katie, who had trusted the headmaster, felt betrayed. Then, on March 25, 2014, Katie picked up her boyfriend’s phone and found texts to another girl. When she confronted him, her family told me, he broke up with her. Hurt and angry, Katie went to Robert’s place in Oxford, where she furiously texted and paced, back and forth. Robert called their mother. While the two were outside talking about how upset Katie was, she went into the bathroom, put the barrel of Robert’s .308-caliber hunting rifle below her chin, and pulled the trigger. When Robert kicked in the locked door, he found his little sister covered in blood. “And her face is gone,” he recalled, still shaken by the memory. *1 year, 2 days before Katie’s transplant* During one of Katie’s hospital stays, Alesia cleans and comforts her following a meal. Katie drank from a sippy cup because without lips, she had a hard time keeping liquids from dribbling out. To move her eyes closer, a doctor would come each day to adjust the distraction device, which was attached to her maxilla, the bone in the center of the face. Robert, Katie’s brother, teases her during a visit to the family’s apartment in the Ronald McDonald House. Katie was at Robert’s place and used his hunting rifle when she tried to kill herself. Robert, who found her, is extremely close to his younger sister.

The stuff doctors around the world can do to give someone a 2nd life when most of us only get 1 is truly remarkable

Thanks Allah for everything you have ever given to me 🙏🏼

I’m so sad at the number of comments saying “she did this to herself; she doesn’t deserve a transplant.” I have lupus, Autism, migraines, epilepsy and a mixed connective tissue disease and there was a time I felt like Katie, I just wanted to end it. The pain was so bad and at the time, I didn’t have a name for my never ending fatigue and pain that felt like I was being shredded (later turned out to be a mixed connective tissue disease and Lupus among others.) I wanted to end it. We learn so much from failures. Katie has learned so much from her mistake and you can hear that when she tells her story, which NatGeo has on their site along with the stories of other face transplants recipients. Katie will never be normal again. She will never live a normal life. I hope this transplant will help her look at herself with pride and that she can walk a bit taller.

Lots of love Katie! Hope you have a joyful and easy recovery. You've got people rooting for you!

She’s better with her real face than taking someone else’s face! We need to research to find ways to fix someone’s own body and heal her own body rather than take someone else’s body parts.

Wish Katie all the best in her new chapter. Really, big blessings to the donor too! It's not something people donate all the time, let alone willingly. Thanks for sharing National Geographic. Will read up more on this. By the way, welcome back NG uploader. Been missing your videos lately.

Wow it amazes me how intelligent doctors and surgeon are. How can a human do something like this it’s insane!!! What extremely clever people they are x so much respect for them x

Amazing. Absolutely incredible. The story in full is worth the read.

That's why I wanna donate everything when I die...

This is just inspiring... Thanks to all the doctors you are heroes and heroines

I am very grateful for what God give it to me Hope the best for her 👍👍

An absolutely heartwarming and amazing video! Thank you for uploading this!

Wonderful loving supporting family, and the surgeons are on another level of skill ,bless them all ❤🙏

And here we are perfectly fine but wanting everything that someone doesn’t have just to feel nice... I fell ashamed of myself 😢

This comment section troubled me a lot, mainly because i was really shocked by the amount of people that claimed that she does not deserve the transplant because her facial structure was caused by an unsuccessful suicide attempt. First of all, every person on this Earth deserves a second chance. This is not something debateable in the civilised world, people are flawed and they should be forgiven for that. Also, she was underage, which means her character, beliefs and actions weren't completely developed and adolescence is always a rough time. But, most importantly, there can be no progress in this world without real, deep compassion. There should be no debate on why we treat people that are responsible for the state of their health. According to that theory, the medical system should also not treat the people in car accidents who were found drunk, right? Or those with lung cancer that keep smoking. But we do. Because we are humans as well and we fail too.

It's heart touching story 😢 tnks to national geographical

Doctors deserves to be paid in millions

I stopped everything I was doing and went to know the story of Kate and the donor. What an extraordinary thing these doctors did. How much courage this girl had. The human being is amazing in all senses. I hope this story encourages people to be givers. Best wishes, to Katie and doctors, from Brazil. P.S.- Sorry, the autocorretor corrected it wrong. My cell phone is set up in another language. I meant, "How much force did this mother have."(by donating her daughter's body to help another person.) I did not realize it.

So because she was depressed and attempted to end her life that means she doesn’t deserve a second chance at a normal life? Smh some people are so insensitive. Until you feel the pain that she felt, you have NO RIGHT to say such horrible things

Wow that’s so beautiful. I just watched the whole video on your website and I love it so much. Such an inspirational video!

As a surgical tech, I can't imagine 1. How cool it would be to be the one setting up this entire surgical procedure for that patient and the surgeons ( SHOUT OUT TO ALL SCRUB TECHS, as we are the foundation to every surgery on the planet) and 2, how difficult it would be to pass to all of those surgeons! I'm so glad I do what I do as this is why I do it.

Hats off to all. The donor, the recipient, the doctors, the families.

Is she the girl that shot her self in the face? Bless her hope she has a life full of happiness.

Such a cliffhanger, I want to see the result. Hope it goes well

God Bless Doctors ❤.... Proud to be A Medical Student ❤

Wow, just read the whole article on the website. Well documented and insightful.

I hope she gets better

I’ve never seen anyone so happy with life in that situation

يا ساتر الحمدلله الذي شفانا بعد ما ابتلي به غيرنا الهم أعوذ بك من زوال نعمتك وتحول عافيتك وفوجاء نقمتك وجميع سخطك ربي لا تذرني فردا وانت خير الوارثين

Dude I feel so bad for this poor girl this face transplant really saved her life because nowadays everyone looks the appearence instead of how good is the person from inside and I really hate that thing

She blow her own face with a firearm in a suicide attempt,thats no disability. Hats of to the medical staff tho.

I love seeing how they prayed together as a family before the procedure. Thank you Lord for blessing her with this opportunity ❤

People are complaining about why she shot herself in the face, and that it’s her fault. Her boyfriend breaking up with her was one in a thousand things that pushed her to the edge. Before you make comments about her, and her choice to shoot herself, look her and up and get her full story. Depression drives people to the edge, and Katie’s story amplified that. ❤️🙏🏻