Alana Smith is a young real estate agent from Palo Alto, California. Following a boat accident in Bermuda, where a big chunk of flesh was cut off her thigh, she struggled for eight months to get her wound to properly heal. It came to the point where she was at serious risk of losing her leg. But then she took matters into her own hands.
In one of her visits to a wound center, a Kerecis brochure caught her eye. She thought, “That just seems like a really healthy option.”
While researching the intact fish skin grafts on the Kerecis website, she came across a section for “physicians only,” which provided product samples upon physicians filling in their contact information. As the daughter of a plastic surgeon, Dr. Kevin Smith, she came up with a plan. “I did a little forgery, and I put in his name, and they reached out to him.”
Until then, Dr. Smith had not used, or ever heard of, Kerecis fish skin graft for wound healing.
Local Kerecis representative, David Pitman, arranged to meet with Dr. Smith to instruct him on the first application of the Kerecis fish skin graft, as well as to inform Alana on how to take good care of it.
“Being the father of the patient and then being the doctor of the patient is pretty unique,” Dr. Smith said, and that wasn´t always easy.
“It hurt me to see my daughter go through this because I know she was worried about losing her leg” he said. “When it comes time for me to step up and do what I need to do as a father, I do that.”
After the first application they both noticed excellent progress. “Every time she came back the wound was much better and smaller” Dr. Smith recalled.
Once Kerecis fish skin is grafted onto a wound, it becomes incorporated into the body in the form of newly regenerated tissue, and is not removed. Alana was pleasantly surprised to see that the white fish skin graft adjusted perfectly to her skin color.
“It was a very special time for us. When I am long gone, Alana is going to look back and remember when her father stepped up when he had to and took good care of her,” Dr. Smith added.
“I don’t know what I would have done or where I would be without Kerecis,” Alana said with a big smile.
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