You’ve definitely heard some incredible stories, but the one about the life of Patrick Hardison from Mississippi is about to knock your socks off!
Patrick was the first guy to have a face transplant in 2015 after being caught in a burning house in 2001, which left his face severely scarred.
He began his career as a volunteer firefighter early in life. He never hesitated to help everyone who needed it, until one day a home collapsed on top of him, trapping him. His torso and face had been severely burned.
“[My mask] was melting to my face,” Patrick had a dreadful experience. “My hose [was] already melted.”
“For somebody who does what we do for a living, I’ve never seen anybody burned that bad who was still alive,” friend and first responder Jimmy Neal said of meeting Patrick after the tragedy.
The injuries on Patrick’s face and scalp were classed as third-degree burns. He had burns on his head, neck, and upper chest as well. His lips, as well as the majority of his nose and eyelid tissue, were entirely destroyed.
“I probably didn’t see myself until November.” “I was injured in September,” Patrick explained to Fox News. “They had cut a small pinhole in one of my eyelids because they had covered everything with a skin graft.” I stared in the mirror and all I could think was, “Is this it?” “I can’t do it,” he remembered.
Patrick had to endure nearly 70 surgeries and various procedures, believe it or not. He couldn’t cover his eyes, and surgeons had to sew skin flaps together to safeguard his vision, but he was still at risk of going blind…
The agony was unbearable every time he ate. He couldn’t tolerate looking at himself in the mirror, and everyone stared at him everywhere he went. He couldn’t be around anyone, not even his own children…
Patrick always wore a baseball cap and sunglasses to protect himself and his appearance. He also wore an ear prosthesis.
“I had kids. It was just a tough time. I never got a day off from the injury. When you walk out in public, it is daily. And, you know, it’s just so — there’s no way to explain everything,” he told Yahoo! Sports.
“You go to the ball field, you have to prepare yourself for the kid that goes running off screaming.”
Patrick lost all hope to have a “normal” life, but it all changed when a French woman Isabelle Dinoire got a face transplant after her dog disfigured most of it. This procedure was revolutionary and it gave Patrick hope that he could be the next standing in line.
He met with doctor Eduardo D. Rodriguez from the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York who promised him he’ll do everything he could to do the face transplant as successful as possible IF they find a matching donor. One day LiveOnNY, a nonprofit that coordinates organ donations in New York found a match.
The 26-year-old David Rodebaugh sustained a severe head injury in a bike accident and has been declared brain dead. His face was going to be transplanted on Patrick’s.
