A MS volunteer firefighter, whose face got awfully disfigured as he was attempting to quell fire in a home in 2011, has received the world’s most extensive face transplant, doctors from a NY hospital said. The 27-year-old responded to a call and was trying to rescue a woman trapped inside her home when the roof collapsed, burning off his entire face including his lips, eyelids and ears.
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The surgery that had more than a 100 people working in two teams on Hardison, involved him receiving the face of 26-year-old brain dead, David Rodebaugh, who was left in a vegetative state after a cycling incident.
Aside from that, he can now blink and completely close his eyes as he was also given new eyelids and muscles for blinking. “The amount of tissue that was transplanted from Patrick’s face had not been transplanted before”, Rodriguez said.
Liveon-NewYork coordinated the hard search for a ideal match, including light skin color, similar bone structure, no antibodies that would cause rejection and same blood type. His mother agreed to organ donation.
Hardison’s children were evidently really shook after the initial facial changes caused by the fire, and in spite of the great medical miracle his new face is, his ex-wife, Chrissi, said they will need an adjustment period to get comfortable with someone else’s face on their father’s body. Dr. Rodriguez was then recruited to NYU Langone to lead a department, develop the Face Transplant Program, and train a team of experts while Patrick remained under his care. The MS firefighter underwent more than 70 surgeries over 12 years, with every aspect of his life impacted.
David Rodebaugh, 26, an Ohio-born Brooklyn artist and bicycling enthusiast died from injures suffered in an accident. “The same goes with the face”, Rodriguez told Reuters following a news conference in NY earlier on Monday.
The transplant of eyelids, in particular, “provides a great hope for individuals missing eyelids with vision”, he said. I also want to thank Dr. Rodriguez and his incredible team. “I wish Patrick and his family all the best as he embarks on a new life”.
Just three months after the surgery, Patrick is doing well and is quickly returning to his daily routines. But doctors say he has already passed a true test of success – clothes shopping in NY, without a single stare.
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Hardison underwent 71 surgeries over a decade yielding no significant improvements; he was on track to losing his sight and was addicted to pain medication.
