Pat Hardison, the former volunteer firefighter who
received the most extensive face transplant ever performed, was given a hero’s
welcome when he returned home Sunday night to Senatobia, Miss.
Hardison, 41, whose face was severely burned in a house
fire 14 years ago, was greeted by hundreds of people cheering and holding signs
that said “Welcome Home” when he arrived back in town for the first time since
having the surgery three months ago.
“Nightline” has been following Hardison’s story for the
past nine months. A surgical team at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York
City, led by renowned reconstructive surgeon Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, performed
the surgery in August. The surgery was estimated to cost $1 million and was
done pro-bono.
The face transplant surgery was such a risky procedure
that Hardison’s doctors warned him that he only had a 50-50 chance of surviving
it. But it was a risk he was willing to take for the chance to get his life
back and feel normal again.
The face transplant surgery took 26 hours. Nine days
later, Hardison saw himself in the mirror. He had lips, ears, a nose and
eyelids for the first time in 14 years.
“That donor and his family gave me this gift, and I can
never thank them enough for giving me something as great as this, something I
thought I would never have,” he told “Nightline” in a previous interview.
source:abcnews
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