Transplant patient touches his son with both hands

ANTALYA - Doğan News Agency

Professor Dr. Ömer Özkan (L) and his team realized the transplant on Jan 21. DHA photo

Turkey’s first three-limb transplant patient, who received two arms and a leg in a transplant operation Jan. 21, has touched his son for the first time in his life.

“I went into his room with the doctors permission for the first time,” said the patient’s son, İbrahim Kavdır.

“I touched his hands. He could move them forward and backward. But he told me through his eyes that he was fine.”

Although Atilla Kavdır’s body rejected the leg transplant, one day after doctors performed the world’s first apparent triple limb transplant in parallel with Turkey’s first face transplant surgery, he was successfully given two arms.

Before the operation, Kavdır had said he most looked forward to holding his children in his arms. Atilla Kavdır lost his arms and right leg when he was 11 years old, after he electrocuted himself by hitting a power line outside his home as he was trying to scare away pigeons.

Professor Dr. Ömer Özkan, who led the team of surgeons during both transplants, met over lunch with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara Feb. 1, at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters. Erdoğan gave his support to Özkan and his team during the meeting, according to reports.