The DARK TRUTH Behind Diddy’s Trial & Verdict
PDS Published 07/02/2025
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Right, the jury reached a split verdict today, and of the five charges against him, he was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, []
But not guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking, which are much weightier.
And so it is no surprise to hear that Diddy celebrated this news, with reports saying he pumped his fist in the air as the verdict was read and then knelt on his chair to pray.
His supporters also cheered outside of the courthouse, with some pouring baby oil on one another.
But not everyone agrees with the jury’s decision, and those disagreements were also on full display at the courthouse,
With an NBC News reporter sharing footage of people getting in a screaming match over the verdict.
“He should go to prison! He should go to prison! He should go to prison. He beat her! He beat her! He kicked her! You can’t handle the truth! You can’t handle the truth!” (0:08-0:26)
Among those upset with today’s news, you have victims’ advocates who see this as a real loss.
With the interim executive director of the group Ultra Violet saying in a statement:
“Today’s verdict is not just a stain on a criminal justice system that for decades has failed to hold accountable abusers like Diddy, it’s also an indictment of a culture in which not believing women and victims of sexual assault remains endemic. We will continue to stand with the brave women and men who took great risk to reveal the person Diddy really is.”[]
And online, there are tons of people echoing that sentiment, with some specifically expressing sorrow for Cassie Ventura, who was Diddy’s ex and the main witness of the trial. [][][]
Others claiming this is yet another case where someone is getting off easy because of their wealth, power, and status. [][][]
So you might be wondering, if the court of public opinion feels this way, what happened in the actual court of law that did not persuade the jurors?
And there, it seems that many are especially hung up on the fact that he was found guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution, but not sex trafficking, right, with some wondering how those two charges are any different.
But the key difference is coercion, and the prosecution had to prove that the two women in question, Cassie and another ex only identified as Jane, were forced or pressured to participate in the so called “freak-offs.”
With them arguing that Diddy used threats and controlled substances to get them to participate, []
Cassie taking to the stand to allege rape and blackmail, as well as discuss the now widely-seen surveillance footage of Diddy beating her.
But as the New York Times explained:
“The biggest victory for the defense here was convincing jurors that [the two women] were not coerced.”[]
Right, the defense repeatedly pointed to texts where the women conveyed interest and enthusiasm for these encounters, and while the women claimed they were just telling Diddy what he wanted to hear as that they were stuck in controlling relationships…
“The jury did not view Mr. Combs’s treatment of his girlfriends as sex trafficking.”
And this was all part of the defense’s strategy of plainly admitting to the jury that Diddy had a history of violence as a result of drug addiction, and even saying that they “own” his domestic violence. []
But domestic violence was not what he was on trial for, and his lawyers argued that any claims of trafficking or running a criminal enterprise were exaggerated, even calling his relationship with Cassie a “modern love story.”[]
With a former federal prosecutor telling the LA Times that:[]
“Whatever people may think of the conduct as a moral matter, this jury decided that the government did not meet its burden to prove all the elements of the serious felony charges they brought against Mr. Combs.”
And while many out there might be surprised by the results, you had an NBC News reporter who was in court every day of the trial believing the writing was on the wall, explaining: []
“You could tell that there were several of them that were not buying what the prosecution was putting forth in their arguments. I saw some roll their eyes. I saw some even fall asleep.”
Now, as far as Cassie’s reaction to the verdict, her lawyer told reporters that she is:
“pleased that he's found guilty and held responsible to federal crimes, something that he's never been held responsible [for] in his entire life. She's happy.”[]
Also telling ABC News that:
“Although the jury did not find Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie beyond a reasonable doubt, she paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution. By coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice.”
And like I said earlier, many have come out in her favor, thinking that the violence she alleged and that was shown to the public should have amounted to coercion. []
But because the prosecution lost on its biggest charges, you have outlets like the LA Times saying this could impact other large sex trafficking cases.
With Lauren Hersh, the national director of the activist group World Without Exploitation, kind of describing this as a stepback amid major progress, saying:[]
“After successful prosecutions of figures like R. Kelly and [cult leader Keith] Raniere, some experts saw progress in broadening the popular understanding of how sex trafficking operated and how victims might respond to it. After this verdict, though, this will 100% cast a chilling effect on prosecutors, who will be reluctant to bring similar charges even when the evidence is overwhelming.”
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As for what comes next for Diddy, well, there are still things that have to be decided, like his sentencing.
Because while today was a major win for him, he could still face up to 20 years behind bars for his two convictions.
But, it likely won’t be that long.
His lawyers want him out today, asking for release on a $1 million bond while awaiting sentencing.
With his team arguing that he poses no flight risk, as well as offering to hand in his passport and restrict his travel to just a few states. []
But they are facing a ton of pushback, with Cassie’s lawyer asking the judge to deny his release, claiming Cassie:
"believes that Mr. Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case, including herself, as well as to the community."
Prosecution also opposes his release, and while they were previously planning on going for the full 20-year sentencing, in a letter today they just asked for 51 to 63 months, which is around four to five years.
But a bail hearing has not been set until 5:00EST today.[]
But I would love to know your thoughts on this story, whether it be the verdict, responses, the case itself, anything here.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson says his chamber will vote on the Big, Beautiful bill as soon as today or by tomorrow “at the latest.”
But numerous Republican members have openly contradicted him, setting him on a collision course that could test his leadership.
Right, now that the Senate has narrowly passed their version of the BBB, the House has to pass it AGAIN because there were so many changes from the initial version.
And while Johnson is determined to meet the July 4th deadline set by GOP leadership and pushed by Trump, there are a number of major hurdles.
Right, first of all, Johnson can't lose more than three votes if all his members are present and all Democrats vote against the package, as expected.
But two Republicans voted against the legislation the first time around, so assuming they’ll do the same this time around, Johnson can really only lose one more vote.
And since the Senate passed their version yesterday, dozens of other House Republicans across the political spectrum have openly slammed the bill, voiced concerns, or indicated they won’t support it.
With hardline conservatives objecting to the fact that the Senate’s plan would add more to the national debt and federal deficits than the version of the bill they initially agreed to.
While more moderate members are angry that their colleagues in the Senate made even deeper cuts to Medicaid.
And while many of the moderates have vocalized the issues they have, it’s the hardliners that have taken a firmer stance.
For example, when the House Rules Committee voted to advance the BBB this morning — a key first step to getting it to the floor — conservative Reps. Ralph Norman and Chip Roy joined all Democrats on the panel and voted against the move.
And today, we saw Roy explicitly telling reporters that there are enough Republicans who want to block the package from coming up for a vote in the House “right now.”
Adding that “the Senate doesn’t get to be the final say on everything” and condemning leadership’s “take-it-or-leave-it legislating,” arguing that the House needs the time to hash out its differences.
And that is a point that has been echoed by many other hardliners, including Marjorie Taylor-Greene, who went on Steve Bannon’s podcast this morning, where she described the situation in the House as “a shit show,” saying:
“There’s no way that [Johnson] has the votes in the House for this.” 00:16 - 00:18
“So this is — I think it’s far from over.” 00:29 - 00:31
“We’re on a time clock that’s been really set on us, so we have a lot of pressure — and then also given the fact that there’s 435 members of Congress and it’s hard for us to get to an agreement on anything.” 00:34 - 00:47
Right, and her comment on timing there is key, because any additional changes to the bill in the House would mean it would have to go back to the Senate AGAIN for negotiations that could drag long past July 4th.
Which is why many members of the party’s right flank have called on leadership to give up on the deadline, accusing them of trying to force through a piece of legislation that many members clearly aren’t happy with, and demanding more negotiations.
With Rep. Andy Harris, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, telling reporters:
“We could take another week to get this thing right.”
But even that could be a tall order, especially given the fact that Harris’s caucus has now released a list of the changes they are demanding.
But, despite all that, you still have Johnson and other members of GOP leadership expressing confidence that they will still get this done on time.
Pointing to the fact that they were ultimately able to successfully pass their version of the bill back in May.
But, as many note, the first time around, leadership was able to sway holdouts with negotiations — and even that almost didn’t work.
And experts say that this timlle, they don’t have that leverage because any changes would send the package back to the Senate for negotiations that could take weeks and potentially even kill the effort entirely.
Still, GOP leadership has insisted that Trump will ultimately be able to convince the members who aren’t on board yet.
Noting that he is holding meetings today with both the conservative and moderate factions of the party that have voiced concerns.
With House GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise saying that Trump has been deeply involved in the process from the get-go, and adding:
“The president from day one has been our best closer, and he’s going to continue to be through today.”
And while we have seen indications that some of the members were swayed by their meeting with Trump, it’s unclear if he will be able to successfully deliver what the hardliners want, since they’ve made it clear their biggest desire is just more time.
Though, that said, you also have experts noting that we’re talking about a group of people who aren’t exactly known for their spines, with The New York Times explaining:
“Conservatives have repeatedly refused to back major legislation, only to back down under pressure from Mr. Trump.”
Right, and meanwhile, you have Democrats doing everything in their power to block the bill, pulling out procedural stops to stall the package.
With Democratic leaders also holding a press conference where they took turns calling out vulnerable House Republicans by name, providing data on how the BBB would impact their districts, and asking how they could back a bill that would hurt their voters.
But for now, we’ll have to wait and see how all this plays out.
Right, whether Johnson has enough votes to move forward by July 4th, or if negotiations get pushed past the deadline.
And if they do, there will be two key things to watch here:
1) How Trump reacts to the GOP failing to obey his wishes and if he starts making threats against conservatives or challenging Johnson’s ability to lead the party.
And 2) whether Republicans are able to find a middle ground between the two versions of the BBB in a timely fashion.
Because while the July 4th deadline is somewhat arbitrary, the party is still running up a against a ticking clock here.
Right, a big part of the package is that it would raise the debt ceiling — the amount of money the federal government can borrow to pay its debts.
And Trump’s treasury secretary has said the U.S. will hit the ceiling some time next month if nothing is done soon.
So yeah, some very high stakes shit all around, and of course, we’ll make sure to keep you updated as all of this plays out.
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Donald Trump is now claiming that Israel has agreed to what he called the “necessary conditions” for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza.
What are those conditions? Well, as of recording, we have almost no idea.
Right, you had him making the announcement on Truth Social, claiming that during the two-month pause, the U.S. would work with “all parties to end the war.”
With him further explaining that Qatari and Egyptian mediators would deliver “this final proposal” to Hamas; and finally, adding:
“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.” []
And with that, we have had one Hamas official claiming the group is “ready and serious” about reaching an agreement —
And adding that it was “ready to accept any initiative that clearly leads to the complete end to the war.” []
But that last part is key, right, because Hamas has already said it is willing to free the remaining hostages IF Israel commits to ending the war and withdrawing from Gaza.
While Israel, for its part, has insisted that Hamas must surrender, disarm and send its leaders into exile – or else be destroyed.
And in fact, to that point, in Netanyahu’s first public remarks after Trump announced the almost-ceasefire, you had him again calling for the elimination of Hamas, saying:
“There will not be a Hamas. There will not be a Hamastan. We’re not going back to that. It’s over.”
But even with that, some Israeli officials reportedly believe Netanyahu’s actually more open to a deal than he’s letting on.
Right, his far-right coalition partners (1, 2) are against ending the war and are pushing for indefinite Israeli rule in Gaza. []
And until recently, losing their support would’ve been a disaster for Netanyahu politically.
But now, he’s now doing better in opinion polls than at almost any point since the war began – largely thanks to the perceived success of the attacks on Iran. []
Not to mention public support for a ceasefire remains high.
With the Israeli foreign minister posting on X that there’s a large majority in the government and among the people for the plan to release hostages — calling it an opportunity that must not be missed. []
And with that, some Israeli officials have reportedly expressed optimism about the possibility of a deal.
With three telling the New York Times that the latest effort goes beyond a previous proposal by offering more solid guarantees that mediators, including the US, would help make sure talks continue until both sides agree to an end to the war. []
Though, notably there, we’re also seeing a lot of conflicting information.
Right, with one major Israeli newspaper reporting that sources “involved in the hostage deal talks said that both Israel and Hamas were more motivated, even without clear guarantees that the war would end” – and adding:
“The gaps between the sides have not been closed, but they have decreased, and the sense is that a window of opportunity now exists that Israel would like to seize…” []
But then, yet another Israeli official reportedly told the Associated Press that while mediators and the U.S. would provide assurances about talks to end the war, Israel isn’t committing to that.
With this official instead saying the latest proposal calls for a 60-day deal that would include a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a surge in humanitarian aid to the territory. []
And beyond that, it’s also not clear how many hostages would be freed as part of any potential deal, though previous proposals have called for the release of about 10. []
This, as there around 50 Israeli hostages left in Gaza, less than half of whom are thought to be alive. []
And then, of course, on the Palestinian side, the death toll in Gaza is growing every day.
Right, just since this morning, Israeli strikes have reportedly killed at least 40 people — including several women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. []
Plus, earlier this week, an Israeli strike on a seaside café also killed dozens.
And the number of people killed trying to reach humanitarian aid sites operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has reportedly almost reached 600.
And with that, more than 170 aid groups have called for the organization to be shut down — saying its distribution centers “have become sites of repeated massacres in blatant disregard for international humanitarian law.” []
And so of course, an end to the violence obviously couldn’t come soon enough, but it’s hard to be optimistic.
Although, that said, Trump apparently is, with him claiming we could have a deal as soon as next week, saying he’ll be “very firm” with Netanyahu when he visits the White House then.
But ultimately, as always, we’ll just have to wait and see.
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Donald Trump is suggesting he might have Zohran Mamdani (Zor-ON Mom-donny - AUDIO) arrested, stripped of his citizenship, and deported.
And what’s more, the White House is actually moving forward with plans to make that possible – for Mamdani, and possibly for any other citizen who wasn’t born in this country.
Right, because Mamdani? It’s true, he wasn’t born here.
He moved to the US from Uganda when he was seven-years-old, but he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018, and last week he defeated all odds to win the Democratic nomination for NYC mayor’s fair and square.
And there is no credible evidence to suggest he isn’t, or shouldn’t be, a citizen.
Of course, even without those lies, being a Muslim and a democratic socialist has already meant he’s been on the receiving end of a seemingly unending torrent of racist, Islamaphobic, and otherwise baseless attacks.
I mean, Trump? He’s called Mamdani “a 100% communist lunatic” and threatened to cut off funds to New York if he becomes mayor and “doesn’t behave himself.”
But this is kicking things up a notch.
Right, going back, Mamdani vowed in his recent acceptance speech to use his power to "stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbors."
And late yesterday you had some reporter asking Trump about that comment, falsely labeling Mamdani a communist in his question, and butchering his name for good measure:
“Mr. President, your beloved New York City, may well be led by a communist soon. Zohran Mamdani, who in his nomination speech said he will defy ICE and will not allow ICE to arrest criminal aliens in New York City. Your message to Communist Zohran Mamdani?”
“Well, then we'll have to arrest him. Look, we don't need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I'm going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.”
“A lot of people are saying he's here illegally. You know, we're going to look at everything. But ideally he's going to turn out to be much less than a communist. But right now he's a communist. That's not a socialist.” (BYTE: 56:06-56:33, 57:13-57:25)
And with that, Trump extended the attack to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, implying that she, too, was a communist, and going after her intelligence as he’s done in the past.
And he also praised Eric Adams, the current NYC mayor who’s running for reelection, with Trump calling him a “good person” whom he had “helped out a little bit.”
And there Trump’s referring to the fact that he got a federal corruption case against Adams dropped seemingly in exchange for help fulfilling the MAGA immigration agenda.
But what Trump is doing by claiming “A lot of people are saying he's here illegally”?
It’s the type of language he’s used before to promote far-fetched, racist, and frankly fucked-up conspiracy theories about his opponents.
Right, probably most famously, he echoed the conspiracy that Barack Obama was not born in the United States and was therefore not legitimately elected.
He also promoted the falsehood that Nikki Haley wasn’t eligible because her immigrant parents were not yet citizens when she was born in South Carolina.
And then, of course, he questioned Kamala Harris’s identity as a Black woman.
But now, his administration is now actually making moves that could potentially lead to taking action on these outrageous lies.
Right, with the DOJ directing attorneys to prioritize bringing civil cases to court with the aim of denaturalizing certain foreign-born US citizens.
And specifically, a department memo tells them to start proceedings against naturalized citizens who are suspected of having “illegally procured” naturalization –
Including by “concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.” []
And that’s the same type of language we’ve already seen used to try and explain why Mamdani should lose his citizenship.
Right, last week, Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi alleging that “he may have procured US citizenship through willful misrepresentation or concealment of material support for terrorism.”
And as evidence, he cited a rap song by Mamdani in which he called for the release of members of a foundation convicted of supporting Hamas in a trial criticized by some human rights groups.
As well as Mamdani’s recent refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”
With Ogles posting his letter on X and adding:
“Zohran ‘little muhammad’ Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York. He needs to be DEPORTED.” []
And actually, after that, you had White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responding to a question about Ogle’s accusations, saying:
“I have not seen those claims, but surely if they are true, it’s something that should be investigated.” []
Right, suggesting then that this might be something the administration would pursue.
Now, as far as Mandani? He has responded to all this, sharing a statement saying:
“The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let Ice terrorize our city.”
“His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you. We will not accept this intimidation.”
Beyond that, we’ve seen like the New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaking out.
Right, notably, she hasn’t endorsed Mamdani, but you still had her saying:
“I don’t care if you’re the President of the United States.”
“If you threaten to unlawfully go after one of our neighbors, you’re picking a fight with 20 million New Yorkers — starting with me.” []
So if you’re a New Yorker, let me know if that’s true, and otherwise I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts, comments, reactions to this whole crazy situation.
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Many in the gaming world are daring to hope now that it looks like the Stop Killing Games Initiative might actually get enough signatures.
We talked about this petition for legislation last week and how it would stop gaming companies from being able to brick their games when they no longer want to service them.
At the time the guy who started the whole petition -- Accursed Farms over on YouTube -- was pretty skeptical that it actually had a chance.
Right, because despite petitions in both the UK and EU being around for about a year in, neither had nearly enough signatures with.
So much so that Accursed Farms was confident that the UK one would NOT pass and that the EU one was a huge stretch since it had just over 500,000 of the 1 million signatures needed.
Which is why he made a video criticizing Pirate Software -- a figure he claimed was the main reason people were so grossly misinformed about what the movement is.
His doomer attitude even affected us, because when we linked the petition down in the description we only linked the EU petition.
Well, it’s been a massive turn around over the past week.
Right, the UK petition has officially passed its signature threshold. []
(Although if you’re in the UK and want to support it still sign it since a small % of these will be tossed out due to clerical mistakes like someone misspelling their name).
And the EU version is well on its way as we can see in a video from Moist Critikal yesterday where he showed that the EU initiative was now at over 750,000 signatures and still had a month to go. @0:10
200,000 signatures in just a week is a massive jump, and as of recording it’s now around 840,000 signatures.
So in the span of just a few hours we’re seeing another massive spike.[]
In his video, Moist once again glazed the initiative, describing it like this:
“Again, to boil it down to its bare butt cheeks here, I’ll saute the mission:
You should not have to worry about something you bought being destroyed and inaccessible after you have paid money to own it.” 0:33-0:48
He also put into words just how popular spreading the word about Stop Killing Games has become with gamers and claiming that the Stop Killing Games initiative “has become more popular than Labubu.”
For Moist the main praise has been for Ross -- the guy behind Accursed Farms and saying:
“All of it was made possible thanks to the tireless efforts of Ross. He’s spent countless hours on this initiative and doing everything in his power to make it a reality and to make a positive change in an industry that he very clearly cares deeply about.” @3:41
It wasn’t just MoistCritikal giving massive praise and a stoplight to the movement.
JackScepticeye was also hyping it up and putting on YouTube:
“IIf you care about videogames as much as I do then please support the “Stop Killing Games” initiative! It’s really important to preserve games, especially these days. “[]
Asmongold also reacted to all the coverage and tweeted out:
“10 months and over 800k signatures later, the Stop Killing Games initiative is almost across the finish line of 1 million.
If you're from the EU and care about game preservation and consumer rights, consider signing this petition.” []
And this is on top of making a quick video about it yesterday as well.
But his tweet touches on something important: this initiative is in the EU only.
However, despite not being EU citizens, the coverage creators like Asmon and Moist give to this has clearly been instrumental.
Not to mention just the word of mouth from gamers in general.
Accursed Farms has also been extremely grateful for the coverage this is all getting and commenting things like:
“I appreciate the coverage! I think it's kind of crazy that it even takes Avengers-level pushback to just not get robbed in the first place, but whatever gets us to the finish line!”[]
That being said, he’s not counting this as a victory yet and commented on Moist’s video:
“I think this is probably more suspenseful to me than to a lot of supporters since I've seen the momentum collapse once already. I'll rest easier once we safely clear that limit… Anyway, it's currently in a great spot, but don't assume the momentum will hold; we need to keep finding people in the EU to sign this…
If we do it though, not only would we get to keep our games (it's still insane we have to do this at all), but this would give bragging rights to gamers for life of pushing back against "you will own nothing and be happy" more effectively than maybe anywhere else.” []
(He didn’t comment on our video so I guess we’re chopped liver. Just for that people shouldn’t sign the petition /s).
That last bit actually ties this into a much wider movement across tech and products in general.
Right, creators like Linus Tech Tips have long complained that many companies are moving to a model where you don’t actually own a product and instead are just licensing it in perpetuity.[]
This lets companies cut off access essentially whenever they want.
And it’s hoped that once a region as big and populous as the EU actually takes up legislation targeting the practice, it’ll just become the de facto around the world rather than companies having to deal with a patchwork of laws.
Speaking of which -- let’s be clear that even if these petitions pass it’s not the end.
Right, they’re a START to the legislative process and it’ll likely be years before we see any law is passed.
Lastly we can’t talk about all this without mentioning Pirate Software.
Overall he’s still getting a lot of shit for his take on the entire project to the point that his game on steam is being reviewed-bombed.
So with all that said let me know what you think.
I’ll once again link the petition down below… and I guess I’ll link the UK one too this time since it also has a chance.
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This man lived nearly 17 years without hands but now, he’s finally able to have some independence.
Right, this is 29 year old Luka Krizanac (Krish-on-ack) and when he was 12, he had a bad case of strep throat that wasn’t properly treated and it turned into a dangerous sepsis infection. []
In order to save his life, the doctors had to amputate his legs and his hands.
For his legs, Luka learned how to use prosthetics but that didn’t work for his hands - simple tasks were still impossible. []
And that loss robbed him of a lot of his independence - saying in an interview,
“People usually struggle to understand how much they do with their hands. And I don’t mean just practical stuff, but basically surviving as humans, even in today’s modern world.”
“As much as you try to build the comfort and confidence without hands … you’re always with someone assisting you. As much as you love them, as much as you care about them, you never have the chance to do it on your own, which ties into the fact that you’re also not able to fully develop as a person.” []
Luka lived like this, without much hope of things changing, for about a decade - and then his case was referred to Dr. Scott Levin, an orthopedic and plastic surgeon.
Who, by this point in time, had already performed two bilateral hand transplants, including the world’s first on a child. []
And he and Dr. Benjamin Chang had built the Hand Transplant Program at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia.
This referral completely changed the course of Luka’s life - saying,
“As you can imagine, especially as a kid, you are disappointed in doctors. You’re disappointed in health care. You feel betrayed by that. But then, to encounter someone who is so dedicated to you, so dedicated to helping you and making your life better, this just changes your whole perspective on the medical field and what it means to be a patient.” []
The hand transplant team worked relentlessly at rehearsing Luka’s surgery - attending surgeons, residents, fellows, and nurses practiced it a dozen times. []
There were years worth of complications - with wounds on what remained of his legs needing surgery and recovery, the pandemic, and waiting for the right donor hands.
Because finding a match isn’t just a matter of blood type - there’s also skin color, age, and size to consider. []
And each hand transplant is specific to each patient - with Dr. Chang saying,
["With [the] hand, there are a lot of structures that need to be hooked up.” 1:10-1:16]
But last fall, Luka and his family moved to Philly to wait for the call that finally came.
And after a 10 hour surgery, Luka had hands again.
Within a matter of weeks, he was doing things he hadn’t been able to do for nearly 17 years - scratch his face with a fingertip and use a touchscreen. []
In fact, a month after the surgery, Dr. Levin received a video of Luka using his phone and said,
“That was really incredible … to get that video. All the nights, all the rehearsals, all the anxiety, all the preparation—of course, it’s worth it.” []
Now, months later, the use and sensitivity of his new hands has only grown.
He recently came back to Penn to visit with his surgeons and he told them that he can now pick up a bottle and feel hot and cold water - saying,
And when asked what he would say to the family of the donor who fulfilled this nearly lifelong dream for him, he said,
["I would want them to know they changed not just my life but my family's life forever, and for that, we are deeply grateful.” 2:07-2:14]
Just an incredible story about how far medicine has come to remind you that while it often feels like the world is burning around us, there are amazing things happening to good people every day.
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