You probably heard a lot of mind-blowing stories, but the one about the life of Patrick Hardison from Mississippi is about to blow you out of your socks!<\/p>\n
Back in 2015, Patrick was the first man to receive a face transplant after he was caught in a burning house that left his face completely disfigured back in 2001.<\/p>\n
He began on a humble path as a volunteer firefighter earlier in his life. Whenever his help was needed, he didn\u2019t hesitate a second, until one day a house collapsed on top of him and trapped him. His torso and face were severely burnt.<\/p>\n
\u201c[My mask] was melting to my face,\u201d Patrick recalled a terrible memory. \u201cMy hose [was] already melted.\u201d
\n\u201cFor somebody who does what we do for a living, I\u2019ve never seen anybody burned that bad that was still alive,\u201d friend and first responder Jimmy Neal told CBS News of seeing Patrick after the accident.<\/p>\n
Patrick\u2019s burns on his face and scalp were classified as 3rd degree burns. He also had burns on his head, neck and upper torso. His lips were completely destroyed along with most of his nose and eyelid tissue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t actually see myself until probably November. I got injured in September,\u201d Patrick told Fox News. \u201cThey had cut a little pinhole in one of my eyelids because they had everything covered, skin graft. I looked in the mirror and all I could do, I said, \u2018this is it? I can\u2019t do this,\u2019\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
Believe it or not, Patrick had to sustain over 70 surgeries and other procedures. He couldn\u2019t close his eyes and doctors managed to put together flaps of skin to protect his vision, but there was always the risk of going blind\u2026
\nEvery time he ate, the pain was insurmountable. He couldn\u2019t stand to look himself in the mirror, and everywhere he went people starred at him. He couldn\u2019t hang around with people, even with his own children\u2026<\/p>\n
To protect himself and his look, Patrick always had a baseball cap and sunglasses on him. He also had ear prosthetic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had kids. It was just a tough time. I never got a day off from the injury. When you walk out in public, it was daily. And, you know, it\u2019s just so \u2014 there\u2019s no way to explain everything,\u201d he told Yahoo! Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou go to the ball field, you have to prepare yourself for the kid that goes running off screaming.\u201d
\nPatrick lost all hope to have a \u201cnormal\u201d life, but it all changed when a French woman Isabelle Dinoire got a face transplant after her dog disfigured most of it. This procedure was revolutionary and it gave Patrick hope that he could be the next standing in line.<\/p>\n
He met with doctor Eduardo D. Rodriguez from the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York who promised him he\u2019ll do everything he could to do the face transplant as successful as possible IF they find a matching donor. One day LiveOnNY, a nonprofit that coordinates organ donations in the New York found a match.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old David Rodebaugh sustained a severe head injury in a bike accident and has been declared as brain dead. His face was going to be transplanted on Patrick\u2019s.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.aboutlife.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/davidrodebaugh-scaled-1-768x411-1-300x161.jpeg\")
\nNancy Millar, David Rodebaugh\u2019s mother, decided to donate her son\u2019s organs, including his face: \u201cI said, \u2018You better save his face. He has the face of a porcelain doll.\u2019 And he\u2019s a donor \u2014 we had talked about it,\u201d Millar told People.<\/p>\n
She hoped that her sons legacy, or at least a part of him, will be used to save someone else\u2019s life, including Patrick\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I met Patrick, I saw this strength, this strong, manly, burly kind of energy in him \u2014 that David had,\u201d Nancy recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid wanted to be a firefighter, an I knew if this guy was a firefighter \u2014 he was willing to walk into a fire to save people and risk his own life \u2014 then he had the strength that David had.\u201d
\nThe day finally came, and the procedure was performed by 100s of professionals and lasted for 26 hours.<\/p>\n
Of course, with every surgery comes a risk, and this one had a 50\/50 percent chance of survival. But Patrick was lucky to be under the wing of hundreds of professionals. He received a new face, scalp, ears, ear canals and eyelids which allowed him to blink naturally and save his vision.Patrick and people who receive an organ transplant take anti-rejection medications which suppress your body\u2019s natural defence system (immune system) to prevent it from recognizing your transplant as a \u201cforeign invader\u201d and attacking it. However, Patrick is thriving with his new life and facial outlook.<\/p>\n
Today he is divorced and is working on a book that will help people who think there\u2019s no way out of a situation they put themselves in.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I want to show the world that you can have hope. I wouldn\u2019t want people that were like me years ago to think that\u2019s it, I have to live like this. You don\u2019t. You can accomplish anything,\u201d Patrick says.<\/p>\n
His overall recovery, and the chance of him surviving the accident are dubbed miraculous. Thanks to all the professionals that fixed his face, along with the generous offer from Nancy, Patrick is a happy man today.<\/p>\n
Please SHARE this amazing story with your Family and Friends to give them hope!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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