Disfigured Fireman Given New Lease of Life Following World’s Most Extensive

The NYU Langone Medical Center announced Monday that it had achieved the most complete face transplant surgery ever in NY State.

The roof collapsed, leaving him with third-degree burns and taking his ears, his eyelids and his face.

Hardison was just 27 when his entire face was badly burned after he got caught inside a. Everything – including his lips, eye lids, and ears – was beyond fix.

Patrick Hardison, before (left) and after his face transplant (right). He was given the semblance of a face with flesh transferred from his thighs, but in the years leading up to his surgery at Langone he underwent 71 operations at a rate of seven a year and became dependent on painkillers, wrecking his family life.

Plastic surgeon Dr Eduardo Rodriguez led the surgery in a NY Hospital, said the transplant was the most extensive by far in terms of the tissue transfer.

Mr Rodebaugh’s hair has begun to grown on his new face and he is learning to shave again for the first time in 14 years.

It took over a year to find a donor for Hardison, who had to have the same size face, same blood type, similar height and weight, and be fair-skinned like him.

The surgery was pivotal in that the donor’s eyelids and the muscles that control blinking were transplanted-a significant milestone and a procedure that had not been previously performed on a seeing patient. They finally found David Rodebaugh, with the help of LiveOnNY, a non-profit organization that helps find and support organ donors.

The face transplant surgery took place in August at NYU’s Langone Medical Center, and it was unlike any face transplant performed before. A donor was identified on August 12 2014, a young man who was killed in a cycling accident. The doctors attached Rodebaugh’s facial tissue to Hardison’s face, connecting a few nerves and major veins while allowing other nerves to regenerate.

His surgery replaced the nose and lips, but not the ears and scalp.

Doctors saved his life, but not his face. He said that he is expected to be able to speak normally within six months.

“To see the joy that he has on simple things we take for granted, such as hair growing on your chin, is unbelievable”, Firefighter Travis McDonald said. The entire procedure, which was paid for by NYU, cost between $850,000 and $1 million. Even though I did not know who they would be, I prayed for them every day, knowing the hard decision they would have to make in order to help me.