. It is still considered experimental and therefore
not covered by Medicare or other insurance. The per-
son must take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their
lives. Jensen was already taking these drugs after a
kidney-pancreas transplant in 2006.
Neither of these transplant cases involved cancer,
and anti-rejection drugs make it harder to resist the
spread of cancerous cells, as well as make the person
vulnerable to other infections since the immune system
is weakened to keep the transplanted organ from be-
ing rejected. Unlike laryngectomees, both Heidler and
Jenson had a non-functioning larynx to work with or
blood vessels and nerves to which the
transplant could be attached.
Dr. Gregory Farwell lead the surgery
team. He stated that much of the surgery
had to be done while looking through a
high powered microscope. "The neck is
an unbelievably complex structure," he
said. "The blood vessels are small. The
nerves are incredibly small and there's a
lot of them." In Brenda's surgery Dr. Far-
well and his team had to put together five
different nerves each of which is smaller
than a human hair.
According the NPR story, "Larynx
transplants almost never occur, say phy-
sicians, because they're rarely a life-
Brenda Jenson, 2nd U.S. saving procedure." This is in contrast to
larynx transplant recipient heart, lung and liver transplants.
Friends and family are amazed when
she speaks including her 12 year old granddaughter
who had only previously heard her AL which she re-
ferred to as her "talkie-talkie."
Friends who had not heard her voice in two de-
cades were able to recognize "hints" of her old voice. It
has been pointed out that much of what gives people
their individual voices is the shape of the throat, mouth,
nose and sinuses; along with the words a person uses
and how they put them together.
Brenda said, "I feel so blessed to have been given
this opportunity. It is a miracle. I'm talking, talking, talk-
ing, which just amazes my family and friends."
The second larynx transplant in the USA was per-
formed in October, 2010, at the UC Davis Medical Cen-
ter in Sacramento, California. The surgery, performed
on 52 year old patient Brenda Charett Jenson, took
place in an 18-hour operation. The surgery replaced
her larynx, trachea (windpipe) and thyroid gland from a
donor who had died in an accident. The medical team
who performed the surgery, including specialists from
Sweden and England, had spent almost two years
training for the operation, including practicing their
skills using animals and donated human cadavers.
The first larynx transplant in the world was done
at the Cleveland Clinic on patient Tim
Heidler more than a dozen years ago in
1998. For much of the time since then the
Cleveland Clinic and others searched for
another suitable patient and the money to
pay the high cost of the surgery and the
lifelong follow up medical treatments. UC
Davis paid Brenda's hospital bills and the
doctors donated their time.
Heidler had volunteered for his surgery
after 20 years of using the electrolarynx.
He had been working in construction and
had been riding his motorcycle along a
logging trail to a fire fighting class when he
hit a cable someone had strung between
two trees. His voice box was crushed.
In Brenda Jenson's case, her vocal
cords were damaged more than a de-
cade ago after she repeatedly pulled out
her breathing tube while under sedation in a hospital
for a previous surgery. Like Heidler, she had also used
an electrolarynx and was dissatisfied with the sound it
produced. She said that her AL voice caused people
to hang up on her or "treat her like she was not there."
She said that after putting up with what she saw as
humiliation and teasing, "I was game to go. I wanted
to talk again." Her injury also left her trachea closed so
she had also unable unable to smell.
The surgeons could not tell if the surgery had been a
success for nearly two weeks. When they finally asked
her to speak she responded "I want to go home," she
said, breaking into a smile. Her voice has improved
since then and she is especially delighted that she can
smell again since some air now passes through her
nose. But she continues to breathe through a tracheo-
stomy tube and is relearning how to swallow. At the
present she cannot drink or eat by mouth. In Tim Hei-
dler's case he has also continued to have a stoma.
It has been pointed out that not all patients who Laryngectomees are not sutiable for the transpalant procedures.
