Mark Tatum suffered from a fungal infection that caused him to lose his eyes, upper jaw, and nose in 2000. This type of infection is not uncommon, but the extent of Tatum’s damage was unprecedented.
Tatum was a medical phenomenon because he survived the virus. He was heavily highlighted in the media due to his extraordinary experience, including Larry King, Maury Povich, and Ripley’s Believe it or Not.
When a rare fungal infection called mucormycosis infiltrated Mark Tatum’s sinuses, surgeons had to remove a large portion of his face to save his life.
The fungus may have spread to his brain and killed him if they hadn’t removed his diseased eyes, nose, cheekbones, upper jaw, and teeth.
“We first did not believe he would survive. The outlook was quite bleak “Dr. Wayne K. Stadelmann, a plastic surgeon at the University of Louisville Medical Center, confirmed this.
Mark Tatum Before Surgery
He was a brave man who stood in solidarity with the thousands of others who have lost their health, homes, and livelihoods as a result of fungal contamination.
Tatum had a new face after two years and 11 operations. “Look at me today,” the 45-year-old citizen of Owensboro, Kentucky, stated in an interview with CNN in 2022.
If they hadn’t taken out his infected eyes, nose, cheekbones, upper jaw and teeth, the fungus could have traveled to his brain and killed him.
“Initially, we didn’t think he was going to survive. The prognosis was extremely grim,” said Dr. Wayne K. Stadelmann, a plastic surgeon with the University of Louisville Medical Center.
Now, two years and 11 surgeries later, Tatum has a new face.
“Look at me now,” the 45-year-old Owensboro, Kentucky, resident said. “I may not be beautiful, but I’m damn near it.”
It was designed by University of Louisville prosthodontist Zafrulla Khan, who described it as the most complete prosthesis he had ever produced or heard of.
Mr. Tatum died on February 26, 2005, at the Medco Center in Franklin, Kentucky, following all of these medical procedures and love from netizens.
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