Jessica de Paz

Type of Donation:             Tissue recipient

Age and Location:             Age 43 – Miami, FL

Transplant Date:               May 4, 2018

Sponsor:                               Honored by AxoGen

JESSICA’S STORY

Jessica was devastated when she received a breast cancer diagnosis in June 2017. She vowed to fight and underwent five months of grueling chemotherapy, followed by a double mastectomy (the day after Christmas). While she was determined to be a survivor, she wondered about what life after cancer would be like. How would it change her upbeat and active lifestyle?

When breast tissue is removed during a mastectomy, the nerves that provide feeling to the breast, skin, and nipple are cut. When nerves are cut, signals to the brain are no longer received, which usually results in numbness and loss of feeling in the breast area. Jessica worried that this loss of feeling and resulting numbness would make her feel disconnected from her own chest. But thanks to a donor’s gift of tissue (a processed nerve allograft), Jessica’s surgeon was able to reconnect the nerves in her chest with nerves in her newly reconstructed breasts. This gift of donated tissue allowed nerves in Jessica’s chest to regenerate and, ultimately, restored sensation to her chest. Jessica is now back to work as a nurse and enjoys the feeling she cherishes most – hugs from her two children.