Hardison has been busy living this year, he says. The eyelids have improved his vision so that now he is more independent, doing things like driving his own truck and working out several times per week. Closing his eyes has allowed him to sleep better at night. This year, he took his five kids on vacation to Disney World, and went swimming with them for the first time in 15 years. He can eat on his own againhes gained about 30 pounds, he says. He looks forward to rejoining the work force, maybe even as a motivational speaker to help others with injuries like his. This fall he plans to meet the family of his donor, David Rodebaugh, who was 26 when he died during a bike accident.
To doctors like Rodriguez, Hardisons success shows that similar procedures are possible for other patients with severe facial injuries. That could have a big effect, since facial injuries in particular can have huge psychological repercussions, often resulting in anxiety and depression and putting them at high risk for suicide. Though the procedures are still prohibitively expensive for most people, the Department of Defense and some transplant centers are coordinating with insurance companies to make facial transplants more economically feasible, according to an NYU press release.
Hardison may still have a rejection episodeRodriguez is always worried about that, he says, though the risk of rejection is much lower after the first year. Hardison may have a few more small surgeries to tweak his face as he gains more function, but not for the next 12 months. And Hardison will have to continue to adapt psychologically to his new face. This is not an on-off switch, this is an adaptive process, Rodriguez says.
