64 Time November 4, 2019
RobeRT Chelsea TuRned down The fiRsT
face he was offered. It was a fine face, one that
could have taken him off the transplant waiting
list after just a couple months. But Chelsea—
severely disfigured after a catastrophic car
accident five years earlier—was in no hurry.
He’d gotten used to tilting his head back so
food and water wouldn’t fall out of his nearly
lipless mouth. He knew how to respond com-
passionately to children who stared in shock
and fear. The face, offered in May 2018, had
belonged to a man with skin that was much
fairer than what remained of Chelsea’s—so
light that Chelsea, who is African American,
couldn’t bear the thought of becoming “a to-
tally different- looking person.”
Chelsea’s doctors understood his hesitance.
Face transplants in general are rare. Since the
first partial one was performed in France in
2005, fewer than 50 have been completed
worldwide. A new patient joining the ranks
is always noteworthy, but Chelsea’s case car-
ries even more weight than usual. Because he
is the first African American to receive a full
face transplant, Chelsea’s treatment is expected
to have ripple effects that transcend his case.
Disparities in the medical system that cause
black Americans to die at higher rates than
whites of so many things—like heart disease,
cancer diabetes and HIV/AIDS—have also pro-
duced gaps in organ donation and transplanta-
tion. Widespread mistrust of the medical sys-
tem has made many African Americans wary of
tissue donation, contributing to donor short-
ages; in turn, only 17% of black patients await-
ing an organ transplant got one in 2015, com-
pared with about 30% of white patients.
Chelsea’s accidental role as the literal and
figurative face of black organ transplantation
is likely to help chip away at those disparities.
“Having a visible, tangible reference, especially
for African Americans... is so needed,” says
Marion Shuck, president of the Association
for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation
(AMAT). Sharing personal experiences pub-
licly, Shuck says, could inspire potential donors
with a clear example of a transplant’s positive
impact. Though facial donation is rare, Chel-
sea’s story could encourage black Americans,
and their families, to donate kidneys, livers
or lungs, saving lives and reducing wait times
across the country.
It took more than a year for Chelsea to get a
second call—the one that would land him in a
bed at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospi-
tal, receiving a new face that was a near perfect
February 2019
Robert Chelsea shops
for groceries at a local
market near a friend’s
apartment where
he was temporarily
staying in Los Angeles
July 2019
“I’m more excited than
nervous,” Chelsea says
on the day of his face-
transplant surgery at
Brigham and Women’s
Hospital in Boston
October 2019
Chelsea consults with
Dr. Bohdan Pomahac,
the lead surgeon
who performed his
transplant, at Brigham
and Women’s
February 2019 July 2019