The frustration of it all pressed into her chest, hammering at her withered-to-the-bone faith. She was searching for something that didn’t exist. The impossible. She put her fingers on her temples and rubbed slow circles, seeing Charlie’s innocent face so full of faith when she told him the truth and shattered his spirit.
Her spine slowly straightened with a mother’s stubborn resolve, pulling her trembling fingers back to the keyboard. Where was the answer? She was looking for something outside the box but really, she’d been searching with box terms.
What kind of terms would be out of the box? He needed a new head and they didn’t do head transplants.
Her fingers slowly typed the impossible anyway. H e a d t r a n s p l a n t s.
She pressed enter and the fourth link down hit her stomach like a punch.
First Human Head Transplantation: Surgically Challenging ...
She clicked the link, holding her breath as she read, her heart pummeling her chest.
Surgically Challenging, Ethically Controversial and Historically Tempting – an Experimental Endeavor or a Scientific Landmark?
Oh God, oh God, could this be for real?
She quickly scanned the page, double checking the name of the website. A half sob burst free at seeing National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health. Before she could officially hope, she searched to make sure they were legitimate. She’d checked so many in the past months, she couldn’t remember which were. Everything seemed authentic online but wasn’t always. She’d learned that the hard way.
She hurried to Wikipedia and pasted the name of the first institute into the search engine there. A light cry escaped her as she put a hand over her mouth, reading the result. It was legitimate.
She hurried back to the site, ready to find a contact number to call immediately. She read the abstract.
According to many, head transplantation is considered to be an extraordinary and impossible surgical procedure. However, relevant literature and recent advances suggest that the first human head transplantation might be feasible. This innovative surgery promises a life-saving procedure to individuals who suffer from a terminal disease, but whose head and brain are healthy…
She froze and re-read that. They weren’t doing head transplants but body transplants. He didn’t need a new body. But if they could transplant somebody’s good head to another person’s body, why couldn’t they transplant his good body to another person’s head? Wasn’t that the same thing?
Tears streamed as she searched for a contact name, scrolling to the bottom of the page, then back to the top. She found a single name and link and clicked it.
This paper was from somebody in Greece, she realized. Was there something in the US?
She hurried back to the main search results and typed--
Head transplants in the US
She clicked the first link, her breaths shallow at seeing them talk like it was a definite possibility even if it was ethically frowned upon in America—the great moral hypocritical leader that they were.
Her heart fell at seeing the price.
…estimated cost up to $100 million, involving several dozen surgeons and specialists.
She continued to read to the actual procedure.
The researcher said he would simultaneously sever the spinal cords of the donor and recipient with a diamond blade. To protect the recipient's brain from immediate death before it is attached to the body, it would be cooled to a state of deep hypothermia.
They were really doing this stuff. But that meant they would need a head donor. A brain-dead person still had a good body but... what would be required for them to find a dead body and a good head? Was that even possible? Paralyzed maybe? Some disease that didn’t affect the head but eventually would?
Even without those answers, her hope burned. There were plenty enough strange diseases that would meet that criteria. Surely. Something rare, like Ben’s situation.
She read further about the operation procedure, holding her breath as she did.
… What Canavero would do is bathe the ends of the nerves in a solution that stabilizes the membranes and put them back together," Sar said. "The nerves will be fused but won't regrow. And he will do this not in the peripheral nerves such as you find in the arm, but in the spinal cord, where there's multiple types of nerve channels.
“Most medical experts say the procedure would be a long shot, but even if the operation works, the biggest obstacle may not be the science itself but…”
The article finished with risks. Of course, it had risks; it was a freaking head transplant. But every operation came with risks. She read on, feeling high on hope.
"Other countries do not have the same ethical standards and requirements that the United States and Europe have. And I personally am willing to perform the surgery anywhere."
Oh God, he was their guy.
She opened the desk drawer on her right, her hand shaking with excitement as she snatched out the first paper she touched. She put it on the desk and grabbed a pen from the cup, clicking the tip and writing down his name. She could maybe raise money for it somehow. She didn’t imagine they had many candidates to practice this on, and he had nothing to lose. Wouldn’t that mean they needed each other?
She highlighted his name on the screen, right clicked and hit search Google. Seeing he had a Facebook page, she went straight to it and found the message feature.
Dear Dr. Vindel,
My name is Cheryl Rabinowski. My husband Benjamin Rabinowski has a rare form of Gorham’s disease in his skull. He has only a couple of months left to live before it reaches parts of his brain that will kill him. All the specialists are out of ideas and they are sending him home to wait for death. As I searched online for answers, I thought to myself there was no hope, because what my husband needed was a new head. It was sheer desperation that had me even search such a thing and imagine my shock to learn it was real. I realize that doctors are wanting to transfer a good head onto another person’s body, but my husband needs a new head, not a new body. But, isn’t it technically the same thing? And if so, is it possible?
If it is, I am hoping to discuss this option to save his life and we are willing to go anywhere in the world to have it done. I think I can raise the money, but it’s my thought that perhaps there are many in the medical world and beyond that would like to see the first human head transplant attempted and may help us raise the money to see it done.
My phone number is 445-239-9869. Please call me as soon as you can and let me know, if there is any hope for us. I will wait to discuss it with my husband after I learn if it’s even possible.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Rabinowski
Cheryl re-read her message several times, adjusting for clarification and grammar. Dear God, please, please, let this work. She hit enter and drew her hands away from the keyboard, staring through her teary gaze. This was real. This was actually real and happening. The hope surging through her veins overwhelmed her until sobs of sheer relief and joy gushed from her. Oh God, she knew it was premature to rejoice. But after all these months of dread, her body and mind needed this hope to keep surviving.