Brigham and Women’s Double-Hand Transplant Recipient, Richard Mangino, Mows, Swims, Drives
Brigham and Women’s Double-Hand Transplant Recipient, Richard Mangino, Mows, Swims, Drives
Over the summer, Richard Mangino tossed a football on the beach with his two young grandsons, swam the crawl in his backyard pool, and mowed the lawn. Unremarkable events in most people’s lives, but Mangino did them with two new hands and forearms he received in a 12-hour transplant operation a year ago.
He drives, throws and catches a Wiffle ball, paints, and even plays “Pretty Woman” on the guitar, all with the two limbs donated from a New Hampshire man who was struck by a fatal brain hemorrhage last October.
“It’s been what I hoped it would be,” Mangino said during an interview at his Revere home this week. “The doctors say I can do anything.”
Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, leader of Mangino’s transplant team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said his patient is “doing remarkably well and better than expected” at enjoying his hands and using them for everyday activities. The muscles in Mangino’s new hands have developed more slowly than predicted, so he cannot yet easily button shirts and grasp small objects with his fingers.
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Since Mangino feels heat, cold, pain, pressure, and other sensations, Pomahac expects his fine motor skills to follow soon. “That will open new horizons of what he will be able to do with the hands,” said Pomahac, director of plastic surgery transplantation at Brigham.
The surgeon said it may be taking longer than average for the nerves that control the muscles to regenerate because Mangino is 66, making him one of the oldest hand transplant recipients.
Following his transplant, Richard Mangino is able to do chores around his home.
“But most important is that he feels very, very happy with what he has,” Pomahac said.
The best feeling, said Carole Mangino, Mangino’s wife of 43 years, is “to put a jacket on and have hands hanging out of the sleeves. He thinks he’s the coolest thing. . . . It’s been a miracle every day.”