Calen “Rudy” Ross – a son, a brother, a nephew, a grandson, an uncle, a sweetheart, a husband, a daddy-to-be, a friend, an outdoorsman, and lastly an organ and tissue donor. These are just some of the titles worn by the 21 year old Fulda man who is responsible for giving a 32-year old man from Wyoming a second chance at life with a normal face.
On June 7, 2016, with depression and anxiety mounting, Ross passed away from suicide. On his Minnesota driver’s license he had marked that he would be organ donor. “Rudy and I had talked about whether we were going to be donors or not, and when we went to get our licenses renewed we chose to be organ donors,” Ross’ wife, Lillian stated in a video made by LifeSource, a company based in Minneapolis whose professional teams work with organ, eye, and tissue donations.
A 32 year old man from Wyoming, Andy Sandness, was awaiting a face transplant at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. Sandness had attempted suicide through gunshot in December of 2006. Due to his injuries from the blast, his face was very deformed. He has been doctoring at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, ever since. In 2012, Sandness received a phone call from Dr. Samir Mardini, the surgeon who had attempted some facial restoration for Sandness. Mardini told Sandness that it appeared that Mayo Clinic was going to be launching a face transplant program.
Over three and one-half years, Dr. Mardini and the face transplant team rehearsed facial transplant surgeries using sets of cadaver heads. 3-D imaging and virtual surgery was used to plot the bone cuts that would allow the donor’s face to fit perfectly on Sandness.
Although grieving the death of her husband, Lilly, who was eight months pregnant, was committed to carrying out Rudy’s wishes as a donor. Five people received organs and tissues from Rudy’s donation of his body to help others. Lilly was asked by LifeSource about the specialty graft of Rudy’s face for a man awaiting a face transplant.
For more of this story see the March 1st issue of the Nobles County Review.
