Patrick Hardison before the face transplant.
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The picture on the right shows Hardison with the face of a 26-year-old bike mechanic who died in an accident in July. The roof collapsed, leaving him with disfiguring burns across his entire face, head, neck, and upper torso.
In September 2001, 27-year-old volunteer firefighter Patrick Hardison was in search of a woman who was believed to be trapped in a house that was on fire in his small MS town.
The transplant extends from the top of the head, over Hardison’s skull and down to the collarbones in front; in back, it reaches far enough down that only a tiny patch of Hardison’s original hair remains – its color matched by the dark blond hair growing on his new scalp.
The team were able to successfully transplant a set of ears, ear canals, chin, cheeks, and an entire nose to Hardison’s face. He died from a biking incident on August 12 that took place on a Brooklyn Street.
Getting used to the new face doesn’t come easily, but his doctors say Hardison is progressing ahead of schedule. “We need more individuals, especially young people like David, to register as organ donors so that others, like Patrick, can live on”, said Helen Irving, the CEO of LiveOnNY, in a statement.
The disaster left his face completely disfigured and turned around his life as he lost his eye lids, ears, lips, a major part of his nose, and facial hair.
Now, three months out from the surgery, doctors are cutting back on the immune-suppressive drugs that Hardison must take to keep his body from rejecting his new face, Rodriguez said.
The procedure was performed at the NYU Langone Medical Centre over the course of 26 hours, and involved a team of more than 100 surgeons, doctors, nurses, and support staff, split between two rooms – the donor’s and the recipient’s.
Dr Rodriguez first promised Patrick he would “make him normal” when they met in 2012.
“They have done a lot for me”.
While the medical team initially meant to ideal the procedure to help wounded soldiers and first responders, Rodriguez said it will also be available to help severely injured persons without other options.
When random children would see him, they “ran screaming and crying when they saw me”.
“The type of injury that he had, there was no more that they could do to help”, Rodriguez told NBC News. He won’t however, be able to work as a firefighter, though he has his eye on another career – motivational speaker, maybe for wounded vets.
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This risky procedure is estimated at $1 million and will be paid for by NY University (NYU).
