"What's Health Got to Do with It?" is a talk program from WJCT in Jacksonville that examines the intersection of health care and daily life.
On this episode, we discuss a groundbreaking transplant that helped restore a Wyoming man's identity after he suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face.
Jack El-Hai, a journalist and author of "Face in the Mirror," shares how this once-impossible surgery helped Andy Sandness and other patients reclaim their identities.
The rare, 56-hour surgery was performed by Dr Samir Mardini in 2016 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Mardini, a specialist in facial reconstruction, had spent more than three years practicing the transplant with cadaver heads until a donor was found.
Then, Lili shares the story of her daughter, who was diagnosed with CDKL5 deficiency disorder after experiencing seizures as a newborn.
CDKL5 deficiency disorder is a rare genetic condition that mostly affects the brain starting in infancy. It's caused by mutations in a specific gene linked to brain development and causes seizures and neurological delays
Britt Johnson, senior vice president of medical affairs at Connecticut-based GeneDx, weighs in on how genomic sequencing has changed the timeline and accuracy of diagnosing rare conditions in infants.
Click on the Listen button above to hear the program.
Click here for previous episodes of "What's Health Got to Do With It?"
Copyright 2025 WJCT News