West Bridgewater man receives first-of-its-kind surgery thanks to Stepping Strong Center
BOSTON - Ten years after hundreds of traumatic injuries at the Boston Marathon Bombings, cutting edge technology has been developed as a result - thanks to survivors who refused to allow their injuries to define them.
Gillian Reny was 18 when her legs were severely injured in the blast. As a way to advance treatment of injuries like hers, her family started the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Shaun Melendy, from West Bridgewater, received a first-of-its-kind surgery all thanks to Stepping Strong.
Melendy says emphatically, "It has eliminated my phantom pain, being an upper amputee I'm rare."
Shaun is rare in so many ways. A Coast Guard veteran and active outdoorsman who loves mechanics and building, he was hit head-on by a distracted driver while he was riding his motorcycle last May. The accident took his left hand, but not his determination. His late grandmother gave him that.
"I don't have a problem with being an amputee or having a limb loss like this," he said. "My grandmother from the age of two suffered from polio. Paralyzed from the waist down. My whole life she gave me inspiration to truck through it and keep going. You can do it. She did everything. When this happened to me, I felt her inside of me and felt the strength she had."
When he awoke from a medically induced coma, his vision for the rest of his life appeared right before his eyes.
"Dr. Carty was at the end of my bed with his mask on and I could see him smiling through his eyes when he said we found you were the right one for this. Your parents told us that you were mechanically inclined, love technology...not a quitter and honest. He knew I'd be the right one for this surgery."
Dr. Matthew Carty is the Director of the Lower Extremity Transplant Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
"Shaun was an unbelievable good candidate," said Dr. Carty, for a still experimental surgery.
Dr. Carty says Shaun had the ideal character to take on a first-of-its-kind challenge. "Super motivated, articulate, had reasonable expectations and had a spirit of adventure about him that meshed with what we were trying to do as well," Dr. Carty said.
Shaun became the first patient in the world to lose an upper limb to a traumatic injury and undergo this procedure. His amputation maintained the links between his brain and muscles, so he feels as though he is in control of - and one - with his new hand.
"I feel like I can open my hand all the way - five constructs they've created it gives me the articulation....fast," Shaun explained. "I've cleaned carburetors, I've replaced hydraulic seals. I'm doing all the same things in the garage that I was doing before and it's not even a year yet."
His case was so unique, his caregivers at Spaulding Rehab could hardly believe it.
"Dr. Crandell came to me with an original flyer from Star Wars in '82. 'Look - this is you!! This is the 'Luke Skywalker surgery' that I thought would never happen! And it happened to you!"
None of it would have been possible without the seed funding from the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center.
He adds, "We never would have been able to get our research off the ground"
Gillian was a high school senior standing by the Finish Line with her family when the bombs severely damaged both of her legs. Her family funded Stepping Strong to help future patients with traumatic injuries.
Gillian says she is gratified to see such incredible progress. "Seeing it already help real-world, real-life patients within the last 10 years is something we could have only dreamed of," Gillian said.
"When Shaun first came in, they couldn't save his hand, but because of what they'd done with lower limbs, the way he was able to help him with this advanced technique and prosthetic - that couldn't have been envisioned years before," Gillian's mother Audrey said. "I would undo that day in a heartbeat, but all of those memories are now flooded with the positivity and the hope of what we've done over the last ten years."
A partnership in hope, driving Shaun into the future.
"I want to be part of this," Shaun says, "and I want to give hope and inspiration to others that have suffered limb loss...that they don't have to suffer anymore."
Dr. Carty reiterates that this is still very experimental and relies on the bravery of patients like Shaun, but he calls it a renaissance.
Traditional amputations have remained essentially the same since the Civil War, but now, advanced prosthetic devices like this - combining biology with technology have the potential to help patients feel whole - and restored - once again.