SOUTHLAKE -- With his fiancee and a golden retriever named Charley by his side, Dallas Wiens is going in a new direction.
The 27-year-old Fort Worth resident was the first person in the U.S. to receive a full face transplant after his face was burned in a 2008 electrical accident, but doctors could not replace his eyes.Tuesday night, Wiens stood before the Southlake City Council to thank the Southlake Lions Club for raising the thousands of dollars needed for him to get Charley, a service dog, from Leader Dogs for the Blind.The council recognized the Lions Club with a proclamation.Charley, whose official name is Charles Emerson Winchester III, is a 2-year-old dog trained at the program in Michigan, which was started by Lions Clubs.Wiens got Charley in June. He said he has become more independent and can go places on his own. Before, he used a cane.The Lions Club's gesture "offered me a means of transportation that's unparalleled and a level of independence that I never thought I would be able to achieve," Wiens said as he spoke to the crowd in the council chambers."It is phenomenal to see other people give up what they have to benefit others."His fiancee, Jamie Nash, said the dog has been life-changing."He's really given Dallas a lot more confidence," Nash said. "It's just awesome what the Lions Club has done."Wiens was in a bucket truck painting Ridglea Baptist Church on Nov. 13, 2008, when his head touched a high voltage power line. He had multiple surgeries at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas before the face transplant at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston in 2010.The lengthy recovery eventually led him to join a support group for burn victims at Parkland. That is where he met Nash, a 29-year-old Garland resident who was badly burned on her arms in a wreck in 2010. She acknowledges that she was texting while driving.Since then, she has spoken at high schools about the dangers.They know the pain -- he's had 38 surgeries and she's had 31 -- and they have dedicated themselves to helping others.She started a nonprofit called jamienashtxtl8r.com, and they say they are forming another called Pain With a Purpose.Wiens said it is their way of giving back to the community so others who have serious accidents can find peace.It's about moving from the state of being a victim to having a life with a purpose, Nash said.The two went on a date on Christmas Eve and have fallen in love over the last year, they said. Nash recently had a surgery that straightened her fingers. In November, the couple went ring shopping. "He proposed right in the ring store," Nash said.The couple plans to marry March 30 at the Fort Worth church.Nicholas Sakelaris, 817-431-2231, ext. 34Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
