Skin graft gives twin a unique gift of life
Published: April 30, 2002
Accidents happen. But listen to what happened to a man from Minco.
He was working on a friend's '77 Chevy Van when it caught fire and caught him on fire as well, giving him 3rd degree burns over 33 percent of his body.
The surgeon I spoke with at Integris Baptist Medical Center says in his 30 years of treating burn victims, he's never heard of a story like this. And he says he probably never will again.
Denny Wright sits down gingerly. His brother, Danny, at his side. The burns on his hands visible from what happened March 16.
"I was putting gas in trying to start it, and it almost started," Denny said. "I kept putting gas in it and it backfired ans it caught the can of gas I had on fire. I spilled it all over me. I was on fire inside that van."
The fire caught his clothes on fire and burned his chest down past his knees. It's a good thing Denny and Danny aren't just brothers - they're identical twins.
"This same DNA is not recognized as foreign to either one of the twins, so you can use their skin interchangeablu and they will not reject it," said Dr. Mason Jett, burn surgeon.
Dr. Jett took some skin from Denny's shins, but nearly two feet of skin from Danny's back and put it on Denny's upper theighs.
"I ain't never had hairy legs until I had his skin," Denny joked. "Now I have hairy legs."
All joking aside, these identicals admit they've have gotten under each other's skin in the past.. but now share it. "We've always been real close," Danny said. "We fight a lot, but we love each other. That's how families are."
Denny said: "Like I said, I'm lucky."
If he wouldn't have had an identical twin, Denny would have had to go through months of procedures and might have died. Dr. Jett says the chances of identicals is small and the chances one would be that badly burned is small. So the whole story is improbable.
Denny and Danny have identical twin sisters born just 11 months after them.
Denny says he'll still tinker with cars when he gets better, but has learned his lesson - don't mess around with an open can of gas.
