A head transplant?

You would not even think such a thing plausible, possible or feasible.


You would not want to even think it could ever be plausible, possible or feasible.

You would not think it even logical.

But eventually in time through the evolution of science and logic many things become possible.

Through human history how many things became possible that were formerly thought to be impossible?

But this! My God, a transplanted head???


Tell me how in hell can a head, with all the nerves from the brain that pass through the upper spinal column in the neck to the rest of the body, be severed and reconnected to a new body…. and work? I can understand a heart transplant, or a liver or kidney, etc, but a head with the brain, which contains the memory, the personality, the intellect???

Does a head get a new body, or does a body get a new head? Well I guess you could say both would be getting something new. But how do you join a mind from one body to another body when mind and body were always thought to be inseparable in the first place? How can you take a mind from one body and join it to another? How could this ever be possible? How could this ever come even close to some kind of success?

Well, dear readers, it has been done! And purported to be successful beyond all expectations! But first you'll have to transport yourself with me into the future:

Worldwide Headlines, 2030, May 21st-
HEAD TRANSPLANT A SUCCESS!

(With the following short news release)


“Today, May 21st, 2030, a milestone in medical science has been announced. It has been confirmed such an operation has actually taken place. After years of experiment and research a team of doctors at the privately funded Global Medical Research & Experimentation Center located in Washington D.C have termed a head transplant operation a success beyond their greatest expectations. The operation, it has been confirmed, had taken place a little more then a year ago. The names of the two patients involved and the doctors involved have yet to be released, but, if as promised, will be shortly. The doctors have stated that many previous attempts at head transplants were kept secret for fear that public outcry would put an end to their efforts. More news to follow shortly as this story unfolds. All details are being withheld at the present.”

But there was little in depth news immediately following after that, only tidbits. As if to break it all, to a world caught off guard, as unsensationally as possible. But the lack of more definitive reports, and the fact that they had kept from the world public their research and experiments secret for many years for fear of public reprisals, and yet with the apparent tacit approval of the U.S. Government and the upper echelon of the global medical community, did the opposite: it set the whole world clamoring for more. But the news media, not only in America, but in democracies worldwide, had not that great power or respect that they once had, as they had long abused their freedoms and powers by over sensationalizing, biased propagandizing, and outright lying, and had come under great criticism, disrespect and distrust, so that their powers were curbed by new laws, and thus the peoples right to know everything became somewhat limited, so that that's why nobody ever heard of this outfit….this…“GLOBAL MEDICAL RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION CENTER in Washington, except the government. And why if they want to disseminate news to the news, or not want to, they more or less could so long as the government approved.
**********

Then another news release came out….
Mid June, 2030:

Global Medical Research & Experimentation Center to unveil the identity and photos of the body that received the head, and the head of the man that received the body in the recent successful head transplant operation. The name of the composite man is still being decided. It has been left to him to officially rename himself. From what is learned both patients were superbly physically developed athletes who, after involvement in the same auto accident, had suffered fatal injuries, one to the body; the other to the head. Both were 25 years old, one of pure African descent, the other of pure Irish. The doctors said it will be some time before the composite man will be able to function as a fully functional human being, but everything is going as well as expected as far as the overall health. Both body and mind are working, but they expect it to take some time yet for the mind of the Irishman to get used to his new body, which is black. Not in a prejudicial sense, they say, but in the aspects of physiognomy.
***********

Upon that disquieting news hitting the air waves there was a silence in the news media, as if from dumbfoundness, but it did not last long and the inhabitants of the world realized finally that this world is truly a mad, mad world. And after that news the interest, in such a great, or grave event, became furious. Pressured for more details by the people and the news media, further short news releases followed, one stating that the new man would not make his debue in the world in all his physical and mental glory till the doctors decided…. like pulling, at last, the veil off a great masterwork for the whole world to see. And of course they knew the psychiatrist would be standing a thousand deep in line with a zillion questions, as would the theologist, the sociologist, etc, etc, and, of course, the ever present, though now not so obstreperous and noxious, people from the press.

And, of course, as the world waited, everybody went insane with speculation and anticipation, and imaginations ran wild: How can two men become one man? And what if it was a head of a man connected to the body of a woman? And what if it was the head of an old man on the body of a young man? What's next, the head of a human on the body of an animal? And on and on and on.

Then it was decided, finally, that the unveiling of this great medical advance would take place on January 1st, 2031. That's when the two who became one would officially become known to the world. When the body of a one Ivory Ebo and the head of a one Shannon Erin would make their debue to the world public at large.

And with bated breath the world waited for this day to come. And, as always, waiting intensely automatically prolongs the wait. Meanwhile the whole world continued abuzz with conversations and speculations of every sort as to the implications of such a shocking perturbing event.
**********

January 1st, New Years day, 2031, 12:01 AM. On every TV and Internet news site in the world, live pictures of the composite man are shown across the globe as promised-no sound, just the caption:

THE GLOBAL MEDICAL RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION CENTER PRESENTS TO THE WORLD ONE OF THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND:

And there it is, the animate white head of a one red haired Shannon Erin connected to the animate black body of a one Ivory Ebo. A black and white human being! His name? Why it's SHANNON EBO, what else, logically, would the composite man have chosen? And there he was, naked, except for a small covering like a fig leaf over his genital area, and walking, smiling, gesticulating, and his lips moving, apparently talking. It was all a very brief, live, though silent, video, and that was it. And it would be shown over and over across the planet for the next twenty four hours. And the first question that would follow was why no sound? The suspicion being that he wasn't really talking, but merely making sounds, as would one learning to speak all over again, which was understandable. And none of the questions, as one would suppose, would be about why one white and one black, the questions would have nothing to do with why the mixed blood of two different thoroughbreds, or why two of such disparate propinquity. Because, after all, such had been going on for generations down the ages, especially so in the radically liberalized modern generations of the democratic free world of the last half century and racism for the most part was more or less a thing of the past. The fact is, though, it was becoming somewhat more difficult now to find truly pure whites in the human lot in many areas of the world, since massive immigration of the world's peoples into their societies had led to massive amalgamation of white bloodlines. As to whether such purity of blood was of some necessity to the operation was another question. But, for the most part the questions that would follow would have nothing to do with blood and race, the questions would be about the dichotomy of a mind from a body, and its rejoining anew to a body that is not its own.

Questions like: Who died? Or, are two living in one? And, are there memories in a body, say the heart for instance? And if there are, are they transmittable to a new mind? And what of the soul of Ivory Ebo, since his mind was dead in his head? Did only half of his soul depart and is his head buried somewhere in a grave under a tombstone with his name on it, while yet his body lives on, but under the auspices of the new head of Shannon Erin? And what about the body of Shannon Erin, the body that was so much a part of his total identity, him being an athlete and so physically healthy with a physic unique of his own? Is it also buried somewhere under a tombstone with his name on it, while yet his mind still living? And did one half of his soul depart too? Should not the body of Shannon and the head of Ivory be buried together under the same stone?

And questions like: Will the body stay black and the head stay white? And how about sex? Can the new man reproduce? How about the hair on the body of Ivory Ebo, will it stay the same, and the reddish hair on the head of Shannon Erin remain reddish Irish hair? Did he still have the capacity to love? Did he want to be loved? Could he really be truly normal, truly human?

Many people were beginning to become suspect that this whole thing was a grave mistake, this putting together of two distinct human beings into one. It made no sense, it made no sense that it was even possible. But yet there he was, Shannon Ebo, a modern scientific medical miracle, looking into the TV cameras smiling, walking, apparently talking, and all naked but for a small covering like a fig leaf over the genital area of his body, as if in some kind of reference to Adam of “Adam and Eve.”

But it would still be some time before he would be released out into the world on his own, and be the celebrity of all celebrities that ever set foot on the terrain of the planet earth….this ancient earth, once trod by dinosaurs and many other strange creatures, including early man. “Early Man,” one wonders, did he have a soul? And when did he acquire it, at what point in the fog of evolution? Evolution, yes it's still very much alive, though the evolutionist and creationist, the atheist and theist, had come to dwell in a general live and let live tranquility among themselves, since neither could prove their own tenets or disprove the tenets of the other. But this rocked the religion boat more then anything since Darwin's voyage on the Beagle, and the subsequent publishing of “The Origin Of Species.”

The soul, yes, of course, it is the soul, turns out to be the religionist biggest worry! Shannon Ebo, did he have a soul? And some on the fundamentalist religion side began to think that part of the whole purpose was to disprove the souls existence, to prove that the existence of a soul is hogwash, to prove, once for all, that an abstract God is not a real God, and does not and never did exist; to show the world that man and his science is the only true and palpable God. And, of course, the religion side has always feared that science leads to atheism. Old arguments never end: There is a God. There is no God. Morals are relative to a given situation. Morals are relative to a God, a higher power. Man evolved over millions of years. Man was created spontaneously, and on and on. But nothing has ever yet stopped scientific progress for long, be it forward or backward, or for better or worse.

And now, thirty years into the twenty first century, many taboos of the past have been winnowed out in the winds of passing years. Embryonic stem cell research and cloning is far advanced, and cloning had come a long way from that cloned sheep named Dolly way back in the year 1997. For now they are not only cloning human embryos solely for their stem cells, but also very close to the sanctioning of copy cat reproductions of certain “for the benefit of mankind” qualified individuals. And it all came to pass despite all previous trepidations that the moral and ethical standards of science and medicine and mankind in general would suffer. And their raison d'etre now, as always before, being the same: “For the benefit of mankind.” And now the religionist say again, “See, how else would we have gotten here to this point, this mad transplantation of a human head onto a body not its own?” And they were quick to point again their old told you so finger. To them the cloning of a human being, dreadfully unnatural and immoral as it is, is one thing, transplanting a human head quite another. No, this had the ring of something of the terrible, the horrible. And the stem cell and cloning experimentation and research that began long ago, it cannot be denied now, had opened the way helping to grease that slippery slope the religionist and moralist forever worry about; the further sliding down it now, to them, seeming unstoppable.

And, as the laws, written or unwritten, of civilized societies are often flouted, there had even been, as if to fulfill some visions of the apocalypse, illegal secret attempts by rogue researchers to clone humans with beasts from time to time in various countries, whereupon being discovered were quietly ended; the parties involved severely warned and reprimanded. But usually with but a very hard tap on the wrist. All which probably only serves to drive such vile experimenters deeper into secrecy.
**********

Yes, it was vastly different, this head transplant. Weird was the word that came to mind in most people. Diabolical to many others. Yet it was somewhat like an organ transplant, for a brain is an organ, and they had attempted brain transplants before but all attempts failed, having presented impossible complications deemed beyond solution, which led to this whole head to a whole body way of brain transplantation. Weird, yes, weird as bringing a dead man back to life as in the age old horror tale of Frankenstein. Weird, yes, and even evil. But, after all, it was salvaging one life out of two from death, so somehow it had its merits. Enough so that the general madness of it all, if truly achieved, would be received not with total condemnation, but with at least some justifying balance of accolades. And, since the world's moral compass only worked now and then and here and there, and all judgements always up to a vote, and the moral environment always in disarray of ever ongoing polemic and opinion, so that laws become like a piece of clay to be molded willy-nilly every which way, accolades more or less is what came right off for the most part, for after all it was a great medical achievement. And all condemnations now would make no difference, for it was done, a new line crossed, a new barrier breached. And now there is no going back, there is no going back, because we have now a one Shannon Ebo. In the name of science and the progression of knowledge what can be done it seems will be done, despite all cautions and fears; wisdom, morals and ethics, for the most part, be damned.
***********

Its almost 2032 and still the world knows very little about this Shannon Ebo, as the news releases had become even less frequent and shorter. Such as: “He is about to be released now into the world more or less on his own as a walking talking independently thinking acting human being, and he will be going back to his homeland, the Emerald Isle, accompanied by a team of top notch doctors to keep close tabs on his condition.”

By now his photos have been seen everywhere, and he is still shown now and then on live TV, but always at a respectable distance between him and any observers, and no questions allowed to him, and none of any real importance ever allowed to be asked to his creators.
Then came their next communiqué to the world, right before Christmas, 2031, stating that he had been taken back to Ireland as they said he would be. After that another silence ensued. Only this time the silence was excessively long. People desperately wanted to know more, the media demanded to know more; I wanted to know more, the world wanted to know more, about this Shannon Ebo, this, two men in one man man. But when you think of it deeply enough, the profundity of it all, the frightening ramifications, it seemed no wonder why the news was being curtailed, nor why the secrecy of it all, nor why he is being protected, and why all request for interviews of him, or his creators, are returned: “All request for interviews denied at this time.” Signed: Dr. Kari Esther Clark, Head Surgeon. GLOBAL MEDICAL RESEARCH AND MEDICAL CENTER, WASHINGTON D.C
**********

I am seventy five years old, a writer, and still writing, because that's what I do, what I've always done for money, and for fun, more fun then a barrel of monkeys, but unfortunately more fun, then money. After ten million interviews denied by his creators and protectors I am the ten millionth and one to be turned down.

For yes, like all the rest, I have some troubling questions and would like to write a story or an article on him to add to the ever growing list that will be written someday, and because I want to see him in the flesh before I kick the proverbial bucket out of this fast becoming too mad a world to live in world. But all one can do right now is imagine and speculate. I want to see that demarcation line where his head joins his alien body. I want to ask him if he knows who he is, who he was, and if he believed in God before and if he still believes in God now, and if he believes he has a soul. I want to also ask him if he can remember his old body, former pain in some part, an old injury, things like that. But I mostly want to ask questions concerning his mind's acceptance of this new reality that he is an integration of two distinct beings and how he reconciles the fact that his original body is dead and buried. But I keep thinking to my self though that these doctors maybe have something to hide, or they're still just not quite sure their operation is as successful as they first portrayed it, or maybe there are things so strange and bazaar turned out now that they don't want the world to know about. But, after all, would anyone really be surprised if something's not quite kosher in him, not quite natural, something awfully amiss? “They” who have treaded on this strangest of territories of the great unknown, this transplantation of a head from one human being to another human being? But they did it and it is done, and whatever Shannon Ebo is, he is. And sooner or later the truth will out, as it usually does. But whatever, though, no matter, nothing will stop science from plunging forward, nor the world to braver and braver futures. There is only one thing for sure, we all die no matter what time we are born into, backward or advanced. The saved from death still have to die. What is done to extend a life another hour, another day, another year, or even years, is much commendable, for life is the most precious gift of all gifts. But what are the limits to our human vanity, our death grip on life? Yes, I would like to meet and talk to Mr. Shannon Ebo. I would like to talk to all of those involved.

**********

BULLETIN
Worldwide News Media, January 23, 2032
SHANNON EBO DEAD

Shannon Erin, AKA Shannon Ebo, whose body was that of Ivory Ebo, joined together in a successful transplant operation in 2029, is dead. The Global Medical Research And Experimentation Center, Washington, D.C. said he died from unforeseen mental and medical complications from the operation. But they still term the operation a resounding success beyond their wildest expectations and still mark it a milestone in the advance of science and medicine. Kari Esther Clark, the head surgeon, vouchsafed a news conference to be held shortly to tell the world more of the brief, protected life of the worlds first successful head transplant patient, Shannon Ebo. She said, “It was not so much a medical problem of biological rejection or incompatibilities of the body and head, but that he had just unpredictably, unexpectedly turned darkly melancholy suddenly, and therewith went quickly downhill and passed away.” She declined to comment any further until her promised news conference, except to say that: “The effort towards thorough success in the field of head transplantation would go on.” And that out of deference to both, “Shannon Ebo was buried with the head of Ivory Ebo and the body of Shannon Erin.”
**********

Well, that last news conference never did come. No, it never came and it never came, and it never would because, just as I theorized, something had gone dreadfully wrong and they had something to hide. And fearing their experimentation and research would be indefinitely tabled or put to an end by public outcry, they merely practiced an old art that by now in the 2030's was highly refined: They lied. For, as it was revealed by some nosey truth sleuths from the news media, writers who, sensing like myself that something had gone awfully awry, went on a big truth sniffing safari and found out that, NO, Shannon Ebo really didn't die at all! No, he was indeed very very much alive, albeit, fiendishly demented and institutionalized and being kept under powerful medications for the incurably and violently insane! Though in body was quite healthy and avid as a newborn!!

But euthanasia, which was presently practiced, and readily accepted, and widespread as abortion, would eventually put him at last to peace. But first some governmentally sanctioned studies yet would be allowed for the sake of the Gods of science and medicine before the public relations moratorium on any new attempts at head transplants that would be temporarily imposed to quell the storm of repugnance that swept across the planet upon the revelation of the true outcome of the so called: “One Of The Greatest Achievements In The History Of Mankind” head transplant operations.

God, how much better it would have been for Shannon Ebo if he would have simply died! And how they, his now discredited creators, wished Shannon Ebo would have merely died! For it would have been so much easier for them to continue in their work without what will probably be now a much much longer hiatus.

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