Texas mom gets go-ahead for historic double-arm transplant

Katy Hayes, the Texas mom who lost all four limbs to an infection soon after she had her third child, has been okayed for a double arm transplant by doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She’ll be the first person in the U.S. to get two full arms transplanted at once and is now at the top of the New England Organ Bank’s waiting list for them.

Hayes, who has been without arms and legs for more than two years, looks forward to a time when she might be able to regain some independence.

“It’s amazing -- when you have arms and legs, you never think about what a gift they are,” Hayes said in a news conference at the hospital Wednesday. “Not having them has been scary and horrible. I can’t do anything for myself. I can’t feed myself. I have to be babysat – that’s ridiculous for a 44-year-old. I’m looking forward to having my independence back.”

Perhaps equally important to Hayes is being able to hold her husband and three children again.

“I want my life back,” she said. “I want to hug my children and hug my husband. I want to be able to brush my teeth. I want to be able to wipe my own bottom again.”

While there have been transplants of the forearms and hands, Hayes would be the first patient in the United States to receive a transplant of two arms above the elbow, her doctors said.

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