Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/1111486
t m c » p u l s e | m ay 2 0 1 9 26 The 10-foot test Terrence Dewaine Kelly was sen- tenced to life in prison in April 2005. At that time, Thomas was wearing bandages around her face to hide herself from the world—only cutting out a tiny eye hole on the left side to see. Going out in public was an emotional roller coaster. "I scared a lot of kids," Thomas said. "I would be in the airport and people would stop and point. 'Oh my God, you don't have a nose!' It was really rough at first. People would just look at me." Alford first examined photos of Thomas in 2004. As a member of Face to Face, a national organiza- tion that helps domestic violence victims receive free reconstructive plastic surgery, he was asked to review Thomas' case after plas- tic surgeons in Waco and Dallas declined to operate on her. "This is a person who had suffered greatly and she needed— as lots of survivors of domestic violence need—medical help and counseling," Alford said. "Every survivor of domestic violence suffers, but she had suffered more than most." Alford knew from the start that he and a multidisciplinary team from Houston Methodist and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center had a herculean task ahead of them. He had operated on domestic violence survivors in the past, performing cosmetic surgeries to "take away the reminders" of the trauma, but none of the patients was as badly damaged as Thomas. Over the course of 17 months, Thomas underwent 12 surgeries. She would never look the same again, but she would at least be able to pass what Alford referred to as the "10-foot test." "I would look normal to every- body, but if you're up close, then you'd notice that I had surgery," Thomas explained. Alford took bone from Thomas' right fibula and molded it to create an upper jaw. Then, he used a flap of skin and the connecting blood vessels from the same leg to build the roof of her mouth and gums and blanket the gaping hole in her face. Muscle from the side of her head was transferred to pull up the corner of her mouth. "There are parts of the body that are meant to be used as spare parts," Alford said. "The middle three-quarters of the fibula has no function. It doesn't bear weight. It doesn't do anything. You need your fibula at the knee and at the ankle Thomas and Alford embrace during a pre-op visit in March.