The San Francisco call., 1906-07-09
WOMAN GIVES SKIN
To SAVE LIFE.
MrS.Mackle, Unsolicited,
Donates Eight Inches
of Her Dermal System
Cuticle ISRemovedFrom
Seven Persons to Aid
Recovery of @. Byrne

FIR square inches of skin. eight Of
them taken from q woman, were graft.
ed 70 the leg and thigh of George
Byrne. q machinist, yesterday morning
at st. Mary's Hospital Mrs. Mackle
mother Of Joseph Mackle. a lad who
was injured in the same accident with
Byrne and who was a comrade Of the
last named, recently donated a portion
Of her epidermis TO save the life of her
son.
Unsolicited and unexpected, Mrs. Mac
kle appeared at the hospital yesterday
and allowed the surgeons to cut from
her arm enough skin TO make up the
fifty square inches necessary to the
saving Of Byrne's life. The motherly
sacrifice made TO her son and extended
20 his comrade evoked the praise due
70 true heroism. Sisters of Charity sin
cerely thanked the woman for her cour-
age and sacrificing spirit.
The operation. a long and tedious one,
was performed by DR.. J. G. Morrissey.
assisted by Drs. NJ B. Lennon and Ed
ward Toppan. The surgical feat occu-
pied two hours.
SIX MEN GIVE UP CUTICLE.
Six men. members of the order of
which Byrne is a member and the
Knights Of Columbus. and two patients
IN the ward in which the patient has
been confined. gave UP portions of their
skin TO make the grating a success.
Silently the men and the woman
lined up in the outside operating room,
prepared 10 give their pound Of flesh"
-Four were there because their brother
was in need. two submitted to the knife
through friendship born of association
as patients in the same ward, and the
seventh, the woman, proffered her cuti-
Gle because she realized what it meant
70 the man who was TO pass through
the ordeal that her son had expert
enced- Six TO eight square inches Of
skin were taken from each one in thin
strips.
The surgeons pared the outer layer
Of the dermal system from the arms Of
the victims. The bare place on Byrne's
leg had been freshened with the seal
pei. and the nice work of fitting the
gratis was begun. The transferred
skin was laid evenly in place, the edg ges
meeting accurately.
When the work of grating was COM
pleted the space rebuilt was covered
with q layer of oiled silk and bandaged.
No suturing is necessary in such cases,
the new skin adhering TO the surface of
the wound and taking up the function
Of that destroyed.
BYRNE WILL SOON RECOVER.
The operation was a decided success,
and Byrne VIII recover quickly.
Dr. MOrriSsey says that in few
weeks Byrne will be able to leave the
hospital in as good condition as ever.
He talks lightly Of his operation. as if
the saving OF a life or the mending of
an injured system were every day oc-
currences.
When the wound on the body made
by the cutting away Of the skin was
dressed Mrs. Mackle hurriedly made
her exit and was gone almost before
she could be thanked.
The men who contributed skin were
J. J. Kenny. J. r. Keath. c. H Boards
ley and w H Snow, members of the
knights OF Columbus. and J. Padroenvo
and Frank Thompson, patients Of st.
Marys Hospital
Byrne was scalded last November
while working for the Cahill-Hall Ele-
vator Company. Young Mackle was
working with him and suffered from
the same accident