The life story of Mississippian Patrick Hardison is nothing less than mind-blowing. After a house fire irreparably disfigured his face and neck, this guy underwent the first face transplant in America in 2015.
He had been a volunteer firefighter in the past, so when he was approached to help put out a house fire, he didn’t hesitate. Sadly, as soon as he entered the part that was on fire, it collapsed, trapping him. He couldn’t move because of the serious burns on his face and chest.
“[My mask] was melting to my face,” Patrick recalled. “My hose [was] already melted.”
“For somebody who does what we do for a living, I’ve never seen anybody burned that bad that was still alive,” friend and first responder Jimmy Neal told CBS News of seeing Patrick after the accident.
Patrick’s face and scalp were burned to the third degree. His head, neck, and upper chest were also burned. His ears, lips, most of his nose, and even the majority of the tissue in his eyelids were destroyed by the fire.
“I didn’t actually see myself until probably November. I got injured in September,” Patrick told Fox News. “They 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, ‘this is it? I can’t do this,’” he recalled.
Over the years, this man was forced to undergo over 70 surgeries, as well as other procedures. He couldn’t close his eyes and doctors were able to put together flaps of skin to protect his vision, but he was still facing the risk of going blind.
Patrick was in agonizing discomfort and unable to eat. He simply couldn’t look himself in the mirror, thus he was unable to adjust to this life. Everyone stared at him everywhere he went, and he could hardly handle being around anyone, not even his kids.
Patrick often sported a baseball cap and sunglasses to shield himself and blend in. He also has artificial ears.“I 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’s just so — there’s no way to explain everything,” he told Yahoo! Sports.
“You go to the ball field, you have to prepare yourself for the kid that goes running off screaming.”
Patrick eventually gave up on ever leading a normal life as the years passed. But after having her face seriously scarred by her pet dog, a Frenchwoman by the name of Isabelle Dinoire underwent a partial face transplant. This process was ground-breaking. It was the first of its sort ever. It undoubtedly gave Patrick, who was at that moment genuinely struggling, a glimmer of optimism.
