Mississippi firefighter Pat Hardison became the victim of a terrible accident when the roof of a burning house collapsed onto of him, leaving his face and body mutilated from the severe burns.
Since the accident in 2001, Hardison has disguised himself in sunglasses and a hat to avoid the startled looks from strangers.Fourteen years later, in 2015, the doctors are NYU Langone Medical Center figured out how to transplant a new face on to Hardison’s head.
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The surgery would only have a 50% chance of survival, and was going to take 26 hours. Despite the scary odds, the procedure was a success. 26-year-old David Rodebaugh was the donor for the transplant, after he had tragically died in a bicycling accident.
Hardison’s family members did not want him to go through with the change at first, but he wanted a chance at normalcy. Now, one year after the transplant, Hardison has healed and is unrecognizable from his former self.
While talking to CBS, Hardison stated, “Now I’m just the average guy walking down the street.” He continued, “People – they can look at me and tell something’s happened, but they would never look at me and think that I’d had a face transplant.”
Alison, Hardison’s oldest daughter, was one of his family members who did not want him to go through with the transplant at first. She remembers changing her mind after one pivotal conversation with Hardison.
“He said, ‘I won’t have to wear a ball cap, and I won’t have to wear my sunglasses. I’ll look normal whenever I get to walk you down the aisle,” Allison recalled. “And that right then pretty much sealed the deal for me.”
Something so simple such as being just another face in the crowd has become one of Hardison’s biggest blessings. “Normal has become a reality over the year,” he said. “Normal was something I never thought I’d see again.”
Check out the video above to see Pat Hardison’s miraculous transformation.
[H/T Little Things]
