A first of its kind, a group of doctors are preparing for the world's first male organ transplant. In just a few months, a young soldier with a horrific injury from a bomb blast in Afghanistan will undergo the surgery.

New York Times reports that within a year, an operation never been performed in the United States will take place. Surgeons from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore are working to prepare the first ever penis transplant. The organ is said to have come from a deceased donor. In a matter of months, the surgeons will develop the organ to have a urinary function, sensation and eventually the ability to engage in sexual activity.

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Statistics shows that 1,367 men in military service suffered wounds in the genitals from 2001 to 2013, mostly occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan according to the Department of Defense Trauma Registry. Almost all of them are younger than 35. They suffered from homemade bombs commonly called I.E.D. (improvised explosive device).

Missing limbs may be a sign of heroism, but genital damage is not openly discussed mostly because it's a hidden wound. Worse, it's cloaked in a blanket of shame, stigma, and embarrassment.

"These genitourinary injuries are not things we hear about or read about very often," Dr. W. P. Andrew Lee, the chairman of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins said. "I think one would agree it is as devastating as anything that our wounded warriors suffer, for a young man to come home in his early 20s with the pelvic area completely destroyed." 

In December 2014, a successful transplant has been done in South Africa and six months after, the man was actually able to conceive a child with his girlfriend.

Another attempt was made in China in almost a decade ago. However, the recipient rejected the genital and asked later to have it removed. The same scenario could happen with their 60 veterans, but the doctors will observe the patients closely before offering the surgery to others. John Hopkins has agreed to conduct 60 penis transplants.

However, missing your private part is already emotionally devastating. "To be missing the penis and parts of the scrotum is devastating," Dr. Richard J. Redett, director of pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins, said. "That part of the body is so strongly associated with your sense of self and identity as a male." 

If the operation proves successful, it can also open opportunities for transgender patients.

TagsPenis Transplant, Male Organ Transplant, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, war veterans, Genital Wounds, First Penis Transplant in the U.S.