Frenchman Gets Call to Arms
The Daily Probe - March 3, 2000
The context for this and other Daily Probe articles is provided here.
LYON, FRANCE (DPI) - Pierre Boullieur didn't set out to become a
hero--it just turned out that way. Five years ago, the 49-year-old
luxury hotel concierge lost both arms below the elbow in a freak
accident involving a limousine, heavy luggage, and a Pekingese dog
named Madame Froofy's Empress Regineaux. Since that time, he has
returned to work, but his path to career advancement was blocked
by his inability to summon taxicabs with his shortened appendages.
That should change, though, because M. Boullieur yesterday became
the recipient of the first double forearm-and-hand transplant.
A team of 26 surgeons (working in shifts, I hope, because the image
of 26 scalpels slicing and dicing all at once is tres horrible)
attached the limbs of a deceased Nigerian woman to the Frenchman.
The donor was rather, in fact very, obese, so M. Boullieur will have
to go on a targeted toning regimen to bring his dark flabby forearms
into proportion with the rest of his body, or else do some serious
weight-gaining all over (it's his choice). But that is better than
having no arms at all. Proud surgeons allowed dozens of reporters
to interview M. Boullieur while he was still recovering from the
general anesthesia. When asked what he planned to do first with his
new arms and hands, the groggy patient croaked the word "Taxi!" and
attempted to snap his pudgy fingers, but instead his unaccustomed
new limb flew out and cleared the phone, a glass pitcher of ice
water, and a large vase of flowers from his bedside table.
Everyone laughed.
- Reported by Chris Jones
-30-