Like any other loving father, Patrick attended his children’s sporting activities, and liked spending time with his family. The volunteer fireman always endeavored to help his community in any way he could.

One day in 2001, though, the lives of he and his family would change forever.

Patrick was called out to a house fire, where he sustained extensive facial burns to his upper torso, head, and neck. The blaze also claimed his ears, lips, most of his eyelid tissue, and most of his nose.

It seemed as though he was destined to face a life of children running away from him and others parents whispering and pointing. But in 2015, the most extensive face transplant ever performed became a reality.

Patrick had only a 50/50 chance of surviving the procedure, such was its complexity. Today, he has an entirely new face – and looks nothing short of incredible. Here’s all you need to know about the mind-blowing story of Patrick Hardison.

Patrick Hardison from Mississippi worked as a volunteer firefighter earlier on in his life. In 2001, he responded to a house fire when a horrible accident occurred.

Disfiguring injuries in a house fire

Hardison was inside a burning home when it collapsed on top of him.

“[My mask] was melting to my face,” Hardison said. “My hose [was] already melted.”

He managed to escape through a window, but his head and upper body were already on fire, and Patrick suffered horrific injuries.

“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 recalled of seeing Hardison after the accident.

The father had third-degree burns on his entire face and scalp. In addition, he sustained facial burns to his head, neck, and upper torso. The fire also claimed his ears, lips, most of his nose, and even most of his eyelid tissue.

“I didn’t actually see myself until probably November. I got injured in September,” Hardison 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.

A new life awaited Hardison. He underwent 71 surgeries and several other procedures, but he was still unable to form normal facial expressions. Patrick couldn’t eat or laugh without feeling pain, and he couldn’t even blink or close his eyes.

Patrick Hardison – face donor David Rodebaugh

The second candidate looked very promising. However, the man’s family withdrew him from consideration.

Hardison was preparing to accept that he might never get a face transplant. Then, out of the blue, another potential donor came to light. LiveOnNY, a nonprofit that coordinates organ donations in the New York area, had found a match. The face belonged to David Rodebaugh a 26-year-old who had sustained a massive head injury in a bike accident and had been declared brain dead.

After David passed away, his mother, Nancy Millar, decided to donate her son’s organs, including liver, heart, and kidneys. More important, she decided to also donate his face.

“I said, ‘You better save his face. He has the face of a porcelain doll.’ And he’s a donor — we had talked about it,” Millar told People.

She didn’t hesitate for a second when she heard about Patrick and the possibility of him getting a face transplant. For her, it was a chance for David to live on.

“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 Hardison’s recovery is a miracle, and we are incredibly inspired by surgeon Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez and his team. You are the real heroes!

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