Rebekah Brown will feel close to her brother, Joshua Aversano, this Thanksgiving season for the first time since 2012, when he was struck and killed by a minivan while crossing the street.
This year, the two men who were given her brother’s heart and his face enjoyed an early Thanksgiving meal with Brown. The men got the chance to offer their thanks for the life-sustaining gifts they received; Brown got the chance to offer her thanks for being able to feel and see her brother’s presence one more time.
Fox News reported:
Brown, 30, made a 27-pound turkey for the two men, Richard Norris, who received Joshua’s face transplant, and John Jenkins, who received the then-21-year-old’s heart transplant. Norris’ girlfriend, Melanie, and Jenkins’ wife, Glenda, also attended the feast.
Inside Edition documented the families’ gathering and previously covered Brown meeting Norris, 39, for the first time after he received her brother’s face in a transplant. Norris was 22 when he accidentally shot himself in the face in 1997. Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez conducted the face transplant surgery— at the time, the first of its kind— during a 36-hour operation involving 150 doctors and nurses at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
“It felt like someone was squeezing my heart every time I’d look at Richard,” Brown told Inside Edition at the time. “His lips, his bone structure, his eyebrows, his hair, everything. It’s like I’m looking at my brother’s face.”
Jenkins, 50, had been hours away from dying of heart failure when he received Aversano’s heart, Fox 29 reported.
“I feel like there’s nothing more powerful than to give the gift of life back,” Brown said.
Watch the video, via Inside Edition.
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- ‘Act like a grownup’: Drunk driver sobs when she loses plea deal by coming 4 hours late to court - July 23, 2017
- ‘I would’ve fired her the day I met her’: Glenn Beck reveals more about Tomi Lahren mess - July 23, 2017
- Canadian thug beats 74-year-old cyclist bloody with a club in road rage fit– and they say US is more violent? - July 23, 2017
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
BPR INSIDER COMMENTS
Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!
