Disfigured & deaf, Sherrie Walter grows new ear with own tissue

In 2010 a persistent sore inside her ear was eventually diagnosed as basal cell carcinoma and because it had spread to the surrounding tissue, Sherrie had to endure most of her left ear being removed along with parts of her skull and ear canal.

Disfigured and deaf on one side, Sherrie, 42, was offered a chance at a groundbreaking procedure that would remove cartilage from her rib to fashion a entirely new ear for her, which would then be placed under the skin of her arm for months to grow.

To date the entire process has lasted close to 20 months and even though there are still more cosmetic surgeries to come, Sherrie’s new ear is now attached to the side of her head.

‘I feel like an experiment,’ said Sherrie talking about the multiple procedures she has been through at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland.

Described by the surgical team as the most complicated ever ear reconstruction carried out in North America, the new organ spent four months under the skin of her left forearm before it was transferred to her head in March.

The team was led by Dr. Patrick Byrne, an associate professor in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

‘I kept breaking it,’ said Sherrie to the Baltimore Sun Times.

‘I thought it was something I was doing that wasn’t allowing it to heal.

Prescribed antibiotics for the sore, the wound did not go away and eight months later, Sherrie made an appointment with a dermatologist.

‘She looked at it for less than five minutes and she said, ‘You have cancer,’ said Sherrie who lives in Bel-Air, Maryland.

‘I looked at my mother and I looked at myself and it was too much to comprehend.’

Hoping that the cancer simply had to be cut away, Sherrie discovered that an aggressive treatment was required which removed seven layers of skin but left her ear still intact.

However, in October 2010, Sherrie found blood inside her ear and was told that the cancer had spread to her left ear canal.

In a 16-hour procedure doctors removed Sherrie’s ear canal, ear drum and most of her left ear and also had to remove neck, gland, lymph node tissue and part of her skull.

Despite being disfigured, Dr. Byrne told Sherrie that she did have options for regaining her ear.

One was the prosthetic option which would have to be attached each day.

However, most prosthetic ears are attached with clips to a titanium rod, but Sherrie’s skull bone had been removed and therefore could not support the rod.

‘She would have had to deal with tape and glue and it would have been a royal pain in the butt,’ said Dr. Byrne to the Baltimore Sun Times.