This Amazing New Transplant Gives Hope To Penile Cancer Sufferers

For the first time in the history of the United States, doctors figured out how to transplant a man's most sensitive organ: his penis. Thomas Manning, the 64-year-old recipient, needed a new penis after doctors discovered penile cancer while treating a work-related equipment injury back in 2012. While penile cancer is unusual, the New York Times reports that 2,030 new cases are diagnosed each year. A penectomy saved Manning's life, but it left him with a non-functioning stump. 

Luckily, earlier this month a team of doctors conquered all odds by completing the first-ever successful penis transplant. Medical professionals predict that Manning will soon be able to pee on his own within a couple of weeks and resume sexual activity within a few months. 

Ahead, the full story of Thomas Manning and the amazing penis transplant procedure that will go down in medical history.

Over the course of two days, Dr. Curtis L. Cetrulo and Dr. Dicken Ko lead the surgical team at Massachusetts General Hospital through the 15-hour transplant procedure. Since the entire process is currently sailing on uncharted waters for the medical community, the operation was performed at no cost.  

Manning's medical milestone took place just two short weeks after he was placed on the donation list. The doctors couldn't proceed until they matched Manning's blood type and skin color with an applicable donor. 

Before Manning's procedure, Penis transplants have only been attempted twice before: unsuccessfully in China back in 2006, and successfully in South Africa in 2014. 

Dr. Centrulo told the New York Times that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are a major motivation for wanting to perfect the science. The suicide rates of soldiers who've suffered damage to the genitals and urinary tract are exceptionally high. "They're 18- to 20-year-old guys, and they feel as though they have no hope of intimacy or a sexual life," said Centrulo. "They can't even go to the bathroom standing up."

The medical team is aiming to perfect the transplant techniques on civilian patients because the Department of Defense does not want to practice "unproven techniques" on soldiers who have already been through enough. There is one big caveat for qualifying for becoming a civilian guinea pig: Doctors don't want to try this new science on the transgender community - at least for now. According to Dr. Ko, cancer and trauma patients will be first on the transplant list.

The penis transplantation procedure is in its infancy, but Manning and his doctors are hopeful that many other cancer and trauma patients will benefit from the astounding medical breakthrough. While we can't help but think of a list of fun names they might dub the new procedure, we are happy that science has finally evolved far enough to help these men in need.