Massachusetts man receives first penis transplant in the United States

A Massachusetts man has received the first penis transplant in the United States, and his new organ will be up and running within months, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital announced Monday.

 

Thomas Manning, whose penis

was removed during a battle with cancer, underwent a 15-hour surgery to get the new penis in place.

“If I’m lucky, I get 75 percent of what I used to be,” Manning, a Halifax, Mass. resident, told the New York Times.

“Before the surgery I was 10 percent. But they made no promises. That was part of the deal.”

 

Manning's new member came from a deceased donor, and doctors at the Boston hospital worked over two days to get it on him. The donor's family asked to remain anonymous, officials said.

Manning , a mail carrier, said doctors discovered his penile cancer after he was treated for a work-related accident in 2012. Surgeons amputated the organ to save his life, but he has since struggle to maintain a love life.

Now he has a second shot. Surgeons said Manning should be able to easily urinate in weeks, and can have sex soon afterward — though he won't be able to have children, because the operation stopped short of new testes.

There have only been two prior penis transplants reported anywhere in the world — one in China in 2006, which failed, and another in South Africa in 2014, which led to the patient fathering a child.

But that number may soon rise. One Massachusetts General Hospital doctor said soldiers wounded in war have been hoping for similar surgeries.

"This could be life-saving,"  Dr. Curtis Cetrulo said at a press conference.

"These patients are very depressed. They don't have much hope for intimacy and they sacrificed so much for this country."

A Scotland man, Mohammed Abad, made international headlines for receiving a bionic penis after losing his organ in a car crash. He reportedly lost his virginity this year to a London sex worker, shortly after another car crash held up their initial plan.