Patrick received the first face transplant in 2015 after being caught in a burning house in 2001, disfiguring his face.

His humble beginnings were as a volunteer firefighter. He always helped when needed, until a home collapsed and trapping him. His face and torso were burned badly.

“[My mask] was melting to my face,” Patrick had a frightening recollection. “My hose melted.”
Seeing Patrick after the tragedy, friend and first responder Jimmy Neal told CBS News, “For somebody who does what we do for a living, I’ve never seen anybody burned that bad that was still alive

Patrick has 3rd-degree facial and scalp burns. He received head, neck, and upper torso burns. The majority of his nose, eyelid, and lips were gone.

I saw myself around November. I hurt myself in September, Patrick said Fox News. Due to skin graft coverage, doctors cut a pinhole in one of my eyes. I looked in the mirror and exclaimed, “Is this it?” I can’t do this,’” he remembered.

Patrick endured approximately 70 surgeries and procedures. Doctors created flaps of skin to safeguard his vision, but he still faced the chance of blindness.
At every meal, the discomfort seemed insurmountable. He detested looking in the mirror, and people stared at him everywhere. He was unable to socialize, even with his own children.

Patrick always wore a baseball cap and sunglasses for style and protection. He had ear prosthetics.

“I had kids. Just a rough time. Injury prevented me from taking a day off. Walking out in public was daily. It’s just that you can’t explain everything, he told Yahoo! Sports.

“Go to the ball field, prepare yourself for the kid that runs off screaming.”
After her dog destroyed much of her face, French woman Isabelle Dinoire received a face transplant, changing Patrick’s life. This groundbreaking surgery offered Patrick optimism that he could be next in line.

He visited with NYU Langone Medical Center doctor Eduardo D. Rodriguez, who pledged to do everything he could to make the face transplant successful if they found a matched donor. New York organ donation nonprofit LiveOnNY discovered a match.

A biking accident left 26-year-old David Rodebaugh brain dead. His visage would be put onto Patrick.

David Rodebaugh’s mother, Nancy Millar, donated his organs, including his face: “I said, ‘You better save his face. He has a porcelain doll face. We discussed his being a donor, Millar told People.

She hoped her son’s legacy, or part of him, would save Patrick’s life.

“When I met Patrick, I saw this strength, this strong, manly, burly kind of energy in him — that David had,” Nancy said.

David aspired to be a firefighter, and I realized if he was willing to walk into a fire to save people and risk his life, he had David’s strength.”
The day arrived, and 100s of professionals completed the 26-hour process.

Every surgery has a risk, and this one had a 50/50 chance of survival. Patrick was fortunate to have hundreds of professionals mentor him. He could blink naturally and save his vision after getting a new face, scalp, ears, ear canals, and eyelids.Patrick and organ transplant recipients take anti-rejection drugs to suppress their immune systems to prevent them from attacking their transplants as “foreign invaders.” With his new life and face, Patrick is thriving.

Today, he is divorced and writing a book to aid those who fear they can’t escape a situation.

I want to show the world hope. People like me years ago shouldn’t assume they must live this way. You don’t. You can do anything, says Patrick.

He miraculously recovered and survived the accident. Patrick is thrilled now thanks to Nancy’s generous offer and the doctors who corrected his face.

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