You’ve undoubtedly heard a lot of incredible tales, but this one about Mississippi’s Patrick Hardison is going to knock your socks off!
After being trapped in a burning house in 2001 and having his face severely scarred, Patrick became the first man to have a face transplant in 2015.
Early in his life, he started out as a volunteer firefighter, leading a modest life. He was always there to lend a helping hand when required, until the day a house fell on top of him, trapping him. His face and torso were badly burned.
“My mask was melting onto my face,” Patrick said, recalling a horrifying experience.”My hose was melted already.”
After the tragedy, friend and first responder Jimmy Neal told CBS News, “For somebody who does what we do for a living, I’ve never seen anybody burned that bad that was still alive.” Neal also mentioned seeing Patrick.
Third-degree burns were applied to Patrick’s face and scalp. In addition, he received burns on his neck, upper body, and head. Much of the tissue on his nose and eyelids was also gone, as were his lips.
I think it wasn’t until November that I truly saw myself. September is when I got hurt,” Patrick said to Fox News.Because they had everything covered, including a skin transplant, they had made a tiny puncture in one of my eyes. Upon gazing into the mirror, all I could manage to say was, “Is this it? “It’s impossible,'” he remembered.
Patrick underwent, count it or not, more than seventy surgeries and other procedures. He was unable to close his eyes, and although medical professionals were able to stitch together skin flaps to shield his eyesight, blindness remained a possibility.
He was in excruciating discomfort every time he ate. Everyone stared at him everywhere he went, and he couldn’t bear to look in the mirror. He was unable to socialize with anyone, not even his own kids.
Patrick always wore sunglasses and a baseball cap to protect his appearance. He wore ear prosthetics as well.
“I had children. It was just a difficult moment. The injury never allowed me to take a day off. It was everyday to go out in public. Additionally, he told Yahoo! Sports, “It’s just that there are no adequate explanations for everything.”
“You have to get ready for the kid who runs off screaming when you go to the ball field.”
Patrick had given up on ever leading a “normal” life, but everything changed when Isabelle Dinoire, a Frenchwoman, had her face completely transplanted after her dog had destroyed most of it. Patrick felt hopeful that he might be the next person in line because of this procedure’s ground-breaking nature.
He spoke with Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez of NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, who assured him that, provided a matched donor could be found, he would do all in his power to carry out the face transplant as well as possible. A match was eventually discovered by LiveOnNY, a nonprofit organization that arranges organ donations in New York.
Following a serious bike accident, 26-year-old David Rodebaugh suffered a significant head injury and was deemed brain dead. Patrick was set to receive a face transplant of his.
Her wish was that her son’s legacy—or at least a portion of him—would be utilized to spare the lives of others, especially Patrick.
Nancy recollected, “When I met Patrick, I saw this strength, this manly, burly kind of energy in him — that David had.”
“I knew this guy had the strength David had if he was a firefighter because he was willing to walk into a fire to save people and risk his own life.” David had always aspired to be a firefighter.
Every surgery has some danger, of course, and the prognosis was 50% for this particular one. However, Patrick was fortunate to have hundreds of experts at his disposal. He was given a new face, scalp, ears, eyelids, and ear canals, which preserved his vision and allowed him to blink normally.
As Patrick said to Time Magazine, “Everything in life has a risk.”
“When the time comes, you’ll go, no matter if you’re lying on the operating table or getting struck by a car while strolling down the street.”
“May I kiss your forehead?” I said.stated Nancy.”That’s the one thing I wanted to do because when David was little, I used to kiss his forehead every night before he went to bed.”
It has taken me a year to finally meet her. Just saying thank you, Patrick continued.It would never have been feasible without her. She seems like family to me. We had a really easy connection.
In order to keep their body from seeing their transplant as a “foreign invader” and rejecting it, Patrick and other organ recipients take anti-rejection drugs that suppress their immune systems. But Patrick is doing great with his new view on life and his facial hair.
He is currently divorced and writing a book to assist those who believe there is no way out of a predicament they have put themselves in.
“Because I want to demonstrate to everyone that hope is possible.” I would prefer that others who were similar to me years ago not believe that this is the only way I have to live. It’s not you. You’re capable of anything,” says Patrick.
Both his complete recuperation and his likelihood of surviving the collision have been hailed as remarkable. Thanks to Nancy’s kind offer and all the experts who worked on his face, Patrick is a happy guy today.
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