SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Surgeons have given a retired Air Force master sergeant a new left hand to replace the one lost to a package bomb at Lackland Air Force Base nine years ago.
Janet McWilliams received the new hand in a nine-hour operation Feb. 17 at Lackland's Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. According to the San Antonio Express-News, the 59-year-old woman's surgery was the first of its kind in Texas and a first anywhere for a female recipient.
The left-handed McWilliams also lost her right eye and three fingers on her right hand in the July 2001 blast. Brandon Walters was sentenced to more than 90 years in prison for the deed.
McWilliams' new hand came from a deceased organ-donor.
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Information from: San Antonio Express-News, http://www.mysanantonio.com
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