Guðmundur Felix Grétarsson’s dream took 23 years to come true.
In 1998, an 11.000-volt electric shock injured him while he was working on a power line, and he lost both arms. In January 2021, he received in Lyon, France, the first double arm and shoulder transplant described by the medical team. Nearly 50 professionals took part in the preparations, and four surgical teams intervened to reduce the time it took to transport the organs.
Doctors could not say how much mobility he would regain; years of rehabilitation lay ahead. His wife, Sylwia, described the operation as Guðmundur’s greatest dream. After 23 years without arms, the transplant gave him a chance; the journey, however, was only just beginning. In an achievement that seemed impossible, Grétarsson managed to move and use his arms in an extraordinary way, far exceeding the initial medical predictions. He managed to do something he had gone more than two decades without doing: hug his family again.
