In the fall of 2001, Patrick Hardison, a 27-year-old volunteer firefighter from Mississippi, raced into a burning home, determined to save a life. He had done this before—many times, in fact. Running toward danger was second nature to him. But this call would change his life forever.

Trapped under a collapsed roof in a blaze that burned hotter than 1,000 degrees, Patrick was severely injured. By the time he was pulled from the fire, he had suffered third-degree burns across his entire face, scalp, head, neck, and upper torso. His eyelids, ears, lips, most of his nose, and even parts of his facial bones were gone.

For years after that day, Patrick lived in a reality few could comprehend. He underwent dozens of surgeries—71 in total—each an attempt to reconstruct the pieces the fire had taken. Skin grafts were harvested from other parts of his body and stretched over his damaged skin. Pain was constant. Function was limited. Appearance was a ghost of his former self. Simple things became near impossible. He couldn’t blink, which meant he risked losing his eyesight. He had to sleep sitting upright to prevent damage to his unprotected eyes. Breathing was difficult. Eating was a challenge. And wherever he went, people stared—some in horror, others in pity.

To hide from the world’s eyes, Patrick wore sunglasses, a baseball cap, and prosthetic ears. But there’s only so much you can do to shield yourself from judgment. Children would cry at the sight of him. Strangers would whisper. Eventually, he stopped going out entirely. “I didn’t look human,” Patrick once said in an interview. “I looked like a monster to everyone else—and eventually, to myself too.”