Family wants limbs back as receiver is laid to rest

NEVŞEHİR - Anatolia News Agency

The funeral ceremony of 27-year-old Cengiz Çavdar was held in his hometown Nevşehir. Çavdar had lost his arms and legs in an electric current when he was 13. AA photo

Is the funeral of transplant patient Şevket Çavdar, who had received four limbs Feb. 24 at Ankara’s Hacettepe University Hospital, was held yesterday in the central Anatolian province of Nevşehir, the donor family requested the limbs’ return.

Şevket Çavdar, Turkey’s first quadruple-limb transplant patient, died on Feb. 27 after his body rejected the new appendages following surgery over the weekend.

“We shouldn’t blame the university hospital because the operation did not work out; the doctors showed a major effort. We would like to thank all the doctors, who showed effort,” the patient’s relative Cengiz Çavdar told reporters at the funeral.

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Şevket Çavdar’s heart and vascular systems failed to sustain the new limbs, doctors in Ankara said. An operation was conducted to remove the three remaining limbs Feb. 27, following the removal of one of the legs the day before.

Some of Şevket Çavdar’s relatives were upset by journalists at the hospital the night of his death. Cengiz Çavdar said they were very sorry for the dispute and expressed their grief. “Everybody is extremely sad. That’s why they reacted this way. I apologize for my relatives. The operation was in the name of medicine. I wish it had been successful,” he said.

Doctors conducted the country’s first quadruple limb transplant on 27-year-old Şevket Çavdar on Feb. 24 as well as a separate full-face transplant operation. The operations were conducted by 54 doctors and 128 health personnel. Doctors held a press conference the day after the operation, saying Çavdar’s condition was stable.

Çavdar had lost his legs and arms due to an accident with a strong electric current when he was 13.
Meanwhile, the relatives of the donor family said they would like to have the donated limbs returned.
“Our grief has risen upon hearing the news. We would like to bury his limbs with his body,” the donor’s father, Kazıl Alkan, said.

Alkan’s 40-year-old son N.A. had lost his life in a traffic accident in İzmir recently. Both of his arms and legs were transplanted to Şevket Çavdar, while his face was transplanted to another patient, Cengiz Gül. Doctors say Gül’s condition is stable and he is expected to be woken up this week.