DURHAM, N.C. -- Johnathan Nauta is grateful to have a new belly button. Yes, a belly button.

  • Doctors at Duke Hospital performed the state's first abdominal wall transplant more than a month ago.
  • Nauta is an army veteran from Fayetteville and says for years he suffered with intestinal pain.
  • A woman donated her deceased son's organs to him.

Doctors at Duke Hospital performed the state's first abdominal wall transplant more than a month ago. On Thursday, the medical staff, Nauta, and the donor's family held a news conference.

“Not only did they change my life. They changed my family's life,” said Nauta.

Nauta, 37, is an army veteran from Fayetteville. He says for years he suffered from intestinal pain.

“Not being able to eat. Not being able to do the things I want to do with with my kids and my family,” he added.

Painful surgeries left visible scars on his stomach. That's when Sherry Scales offered to help after losing her 13-year old son, Marcus, to a tragic accident earlier this year. She donated his organs.

“We decided to try to make something good out of something bad,” said Scales.

So doctors took Marcus' abdominal wall, which is the outer skin of the abdomen, and placed it on Nauta.

“Under the tummy are your organs. So the abdominal wall protects your organs,” said Dr. Detlev Erdmann.

The transplant surgery took 14 hours and 25 members of the medical staff. Nauta is now fully functional but will have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life so his body doesn't reject the transplant.