Carmen Tarleton has endured extraordinary challenges throughout her life. In 2007, her estranged husband attacked her with a bottle of lye, leaving her face unrecognizable and burning 85% of her body. For years afterward, she lived with constant pain, especially in her neck and face, as the skin grafts grew increasingly tight.

Then, on Valentine’s Day six years ago, the former transplant nurse received the news she had long been waiting for: a donor had provided a full face and neck. After a complex surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, however, her body began rejecting the transplant. Doctors struggled to stop the rejection. With little time left, they tried a small dose of an anti-rejection medication as a final option. The treatment worked—the rejection stopped, and Tarleton began to heal.