Carmen Blandin Tarleton

Recipient of one of the world’s first full face transplants
Became the first American to receive a second full face transplant in 2020

On June 10, 2007, Carmen Blandin Tarleton’s estranged husband broke into her rural Vermont home, beat her with a baseball bat, and doused her with industrial-strength lye. Doctors called it “the most horrific injury a human being could suffer.”

Ms. Tarleton spent the next three and a half months in a medically induced coma, and when she awoke, it was an unimaginable reality: She was blind and permanently disfigured, with burns covering more than 80 percent of her body. With so much taken away, no one could have anticipated what Ms. Tarleton would gain from her experience: an awakening, a purpose, and joy.

By sharing her struggles and ultimate victory over catastrophic loss, Ms. Tarleton proves that life is a choice and offers a rare glimpse into the best and worst corners of the human heart. In July of 2020, Ms. Tarleton received a second face transplant and became the first American to have undergone this procedure twice.