Photos : Tennessee Firefighter Pat Hardison Gets New Face After Successful Face Transplant Surgery

Meet 41-year-old Pat Hardison, a former firefighter from
Tennessee who lost most of his face when his fireman’s mask
melted during a blaze in a mobile home in 2001.
He said his disfigured features made his young children scream
in terror – and he despaired of ever living a normal life again.
But now Hardison has been given a new face – and new hope –
thanks to the riskiest face transplant ever performed.
The father of five had the face of 26-year-old David Rodebaugh
grafted on to what remained of his own features in August this
year after the young man died in a cycling crash.
The surgery was so perilous that Hardison was told he had only
a 50 per cent chance of surviving it. But three months later he is
thriving and boasts: ‘Now I’m just an average guy.’
The amazing transformation was only made possible when
Rodebaugh’s mom agreed to the transplant, noting that her son
had always wanted to be a firefighter.
Recalling the incident, he told ABC:
‘It was just a normal day. Just like every other fire…we went in
looking for a lady.’
He entered the house with three other firefighters but the ceiling
collapsed around him.
‘[My mask] was melting to my face,’ Hardison said. ‘My hose
[was] already melted.
He pulled the mask off, held his breath and closed his eyes,
which doctors say saved his sight and prevented smoke from
damaging his throat and lungs.
The former firefighter spent 63 days in hospital and was given
the semblance of a face with flesh taken from his thighs. He had
lost his ears, lips, most of his nose and virtually all of his eyelid
tissue.
Because of this, he was unable to see properly.
When he returned home, he recalled how his three young
children, Alison, six, Dalton, three and Averi, two, were terrified
of him.
‘My kids were scared of me. You can’t blame them. They’re
young kids.’He playfully told them and other curious children
that he had fought a bear but they ‘ran screaming and crying
when they saw me. There are things worse than dying.
Even though he had two more children, Braden and Cullen after
the accident, the impact of his accident put a huge strain on his
family life and after ten years of marriage, he and his wife
Chrissi divorced.
More than 100 doctors, nurses, technical and support staff took
part in the 26-hour operation, conducted in mid-August at the
NYU Langone Medical Center.
More photos after the cut