This Firefighter Got a Brand-New Face — And Renewed Hope for His Life
The procedure was risky, but Pat Hardison thinks it was completely worth it.
By Anna Zambelli
After living with severe facial burns for more than a decade, a Mississippi man has underdone the most extensive face transplant ever performed — a 26-hour procedure that sought to give him back something he lost 14 years ago.
In September 2001, Pat Hardison was a 27-year-old father of three who spent his days working as a salesman in the family tire business and volunteered as a firefighter on the side. In fact, he was the captain of the crew.
"I didn't do it to make a living, I did it because I loved it... at this department it's different. It's not like a fire department that volunteers, we're a brotherhood," he tells ABC's Nightline.
But his life drastically changed after responding to what he thought would be a typical house fire. Hardison recalled that he and three others entered the burning building, but he doesn't remember much after that.
Reports note that the ceiling collapsed around him, melting his hose and his mask. Instinctively, he ripped the mask off his face and closed his eyes and held his breath. Ultimately, Hardison made it out of the fire, and his quick thinking saved him, but his life was forever changed.
The young father spent 63 days in the hospital recovering, and came out of it with severe disfiguring — graphically put, he no longer had a scalp, ears, eyelids, nose or lips. His children were terrified of him. Over the next 10 years, he underwent more than 70 surgeries to try to reconstruct his features, but they only provided minor improvements. Hardison says he became depressed, and addicted to pain medications. He and his wife divorced.
But in 2012, things began to change. Because he lost his eyelids, Hardison slowly began losing vision. Realizing he would eventually go blind, he considered the option of a face transplant.
At the urging of a friend, he sent his medical records to Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, a reconstructive surgeon who had successfully completed the most extensive face transplant to date. He was looking for his next patient.
After an extensive vetting process, which involved evaluating both Hardison and his family, Rodriguez decided he had found the perfect patient.
In July, Hardison received the call he had waited nearly a year for: They had found a potential donor. A 26 year old had died tragically in a bike accident and his family agreed to donate his organs. His blood, genes and facial structure suggested he was a viable match for Hardison.
The procedure would be difficult — with about a 50/50 chance of survival — but it was well worth the risk. Surgeons were able to lift the donor's face, including the facial nerves and muscles, and place it onto Hardison.
10:30A: Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez discusses #facetransplant surgery. Press conference livestream https://t.co/IumQlwnc9W pic.twitter.com/c30IsOVEom
— NYU Langone Health (@nyulangone) November 16, 2015
While slowly recovering at the NYU Langone Medical Center, Hardison only communicated with his kids through text message. Seven weeks after the operation, he sent them a photo, to lessen the shock when they visited.
"It was weird," his son Braden, who was born after the fire, tells Nightline. "All that time I didn't know what he looked like and when I actually see the picture and see what he looks like now, it's like 'whoa.'"
It's now been three months since the surgery and Hardison is doing well, but Rodriguez says the risk of rejection is not completely gone yet. Additionally, Hardison suffers constant pain, but says he has no regrets.
"I never one time thought about failing," he says. "I thought about the risk of dying because that never scares me because I lived. There are things in life that are way worse than death."
via Yahoo! News
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