Ted Huang, renowned plastic surgeon
Jennifer’s uncle, Ted Huang passed away last week, aged 79. He lived in Galveston, Texas and was married to Jennifer’s father’s sister. Read about his amazing contributions to people’s life within the field of plastic surgery and reconstruction after severe burns injuries.
From Galves
ton’s paper, the Daily News, I picked the following article:
ton’s paper, the Daily News, I picked the following article:Dr. Ted Tsung-Che Huang, an innovative plastic surgeon who brought hope and help to severely burned children, died Friday. He was 79.
“Ted Huang was one of the great plastic surgeons of this century in the area of burns,” said David N. Herndon, chief of staff and director of research at the Shriners Hospitals for Children. “He did at least 900 burn reconstruction surgeries each year on the most devastated and deprived children, bringing light and hope into their lives.”
“It was his life’s work to take care of and improve the lives of others,” Herndon said.
Huang authored and co-authored hundreds of papers: 63 medical manuscripts, 19 textbook chapters and innumerable poster and abstract presentations.
“He would do surgery all day and write papers all night,” Herndon said. “When I came to Shriners in 1980, it was Dr. Huang who taught me.”
Training under Truman Blocker, chief of the plastic surgery division, he became chief resident in general surgery and completed a residency in plastic surgery, before joining the university’s faculty.
“He was an original thinker who took the most difficult cases and did outstanding work,” said Courtney Townsend, chief of surgery at the medical branch.
Many surgeons practicing today and their patients are benefiting from the methods he pioneered, Townsend said.
Huang married Rebeca Magpayo, a registered nurse, in 1965. The couple had three children, Tanya, Keith and Craig.
Huang’s colleagues recall his empathy and tenderness with children who had lost so much.
“Dr. Huang was passionate about providing the very finest health care to children who, without his ability and knowledge, would have had few resources and fewer future possibilities,” said Linda Phillips, chief of plastic surgery at the medical branch.
Because reconstructive surgery required so much of his time, he never had hobbies — until he began making bread.
“He never bragged about his surgical skill, but he sure did brag about his bread,” Iris Mendenhall, an operating nurse, said.
And in 2011 the following article was published in the Houston Chronicle:
GALVESTON — Four women sat in Dr. Ted Huang‘s Galveston office last October, hoping their 18-month quest to save a Chinese girl’s life had ended.
Min Tang was 8 years old when she dashed into her family’s burning home in Yunnan Province to save her 1-year-old brother in 2008. Among other injuries, her burns fused her thighs together, making elimination so painful she had nearly stopped eating.
Chinese doctors were unable to help, so the women from HandReach, a small Boston-based charity, set out to find a surgeon who could operate on Min. They finally succeeded when they contacted the world-renowned burn center at Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, where Min and her brother Ze have undergone surgeries that are vastly improving their young lives.
“There was no doubt she was not going to survive much longer,” Brecken Swartz, HandReach executive director, said of Min Tang.
Operating on a tiny budget, HandReach had to find a surgeon who would donate his services. Two organizations turned them down, so Swartz, her daughter and two HandReach volunteers turned to the Galveston hospital.
Sitting in Huang’s office in the Shriners building, the women asked Huang to come to China and operate on Min. “We were four young women sitting in his office, very desperate,” Swartz recalled. “Our hearts were beating fast, and we were on pins and needles.”
His reply – “I’m sorry, I’m not going to China” – nearly brought Swartz to tears. After a pause he said, “But I will bring her here.” Huang also agreed to operate on Ze, whose left thigh was fused to his hip despite several unsuccessful attempts by Chinese surgeons to free it.
A doubtful Tang and his children, accompanied by two Chinese doctors whom Huang had agreed to train, arrived in Galveston in May. Donations paid for their trip.
Tang shed his doubts after the first operation. “In the beginning I didn’t have a big hope, just a little hope,” Tang said. “But right now I feel so happy because the improvement is so obvious.”
After a dozen surgeries, Min, now 11, is eating heartily. Her brother, now 4, who hadn’t learned to walk before losing his legs to the fire, is walking for the first time in his life with the aid of prosthetic legs. Min will be fitted with prosthetics to replace her lower legs, Huang said, and will be walking before she returns to China.
The children will need numerous operations to loosen the scar tissue as they grow, and the prosthetics will need replacement a dozen times. Huang said he will be keeping tabs on the children and will advise Chinese doctors if need be.
Swartz said HandReach is opening a prosthetics unit in Beijing that will care for the Tang children. The unit will be connected electronically to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Springfield, Mass., which specializes in rehabilitation.