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.
Up until the tragic day in 2001, Patrick’s life was wonderful.
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.
Patrick has been doing well despite using anti-rejection medications since the surgery to stop his immune system from rejecting the face. He not only got a new look, but also a new life.
He is currently divorced and writing a book that he hopes would inspire everyone who thinks there is no way out of the predicament they have found themselves in. “Because I want to show the world that you can have hope. I wouldn’t want people that were like me years ago to think that’s it, I have to live like this. You don’t. You can accomplish anything,” Patrick says.
His survival and his recovery are dubbed miraculous. Thanks to Nancy, Dr. Rodriguez and his team, and Patrick’s strong will, today, he is a happy man.
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