--- title: Face Transplant: Most Extensive Ever Performed This Year description: Pat Hardison is a former volunteer firefighter who was severely burned in 2001 canonical: https://time.com/4114911/face-transplant-surgery-most-extensive/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-16T20:52:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:40:24.350Z article:section: Health og:title: This Man Who Received the Most Extensive Face Transplant Ever og:description: Pat Hardison is a former volunteer firefighter who was severely burned in 2001 og:url: https://time.com/4114911/face-transplant-surgery-most-extensive/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4ff0c486aef0a06/69887158ab6d7713266a72bf/eduardo-rodriguez-face-transplant-patrick-hardison-firefighter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4378 og:image:height: 2463 og:image:alt: Face Transplant og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Man Who Received the Most Extensive Face Transplant Ever twitter:description: Pat Hardison is a former volunteer firefighter who was severely burned in 2001 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4ff0c486aef0a06/69887158ab6d7713266a72bf/eduardo-rodriguez-face-transplant-patrick-hardison-firefighter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the Man Who Received the Most Extensive Face Transplant Ever > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 16, 2015 8:52 PM UTC  Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, who led the surgical team that did the face transplant on Patrick Hardison, a volunteer firefighter who was badly burned in a 2001 blaze, speaks during a news conference as he shows before-and-after images of Hardison in New York on Nov. 16, 2015. Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, who led the surgical team that did the face transplant on Patrick Hardison, a volunteer firefighter who was badly burned in a 2001 blaze, speaks during a news conference as he shows before-and-after images of Hardison in New York on Nov. 16, 2015. Bebeto Matthews—AP  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 16, 2015 8:52 PM UTC A former volunteer firefighter who was disfigured more than a decade ago has a new lease on life after undergoing the [most extensive face-transplant operation](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/unprecedented-face-transplant-surgery-firefighter-hope-life/story?id=35218667) in history. Pat Hardison, 41, who was severely burned in 2001, underwent 26 hours of surgery in August after being paired with an organ donor, ABC News reports. Plastic surgeon Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez said finding the right match required a lengthy search. “We’re looking at skeletal measurements we want them to match skeletally,” he said. “We look at specific distances of their eyes or nose or mouth, the lips, so we’re very specific in a face transplant.” The donor was 26-year-old David Rodebaugh, who died in July after he crashed his bike and hit his head, which was not covered by a helmet, in Brooklyn. Rodebaugh’s mother agreed to donate his organs after she was contacted by LiveOnNY, a non-profit that pairs organ donors with patients. “She was told she could never have children and she had David and she felt very much that he was a miracle and that by doing this the miracle would continue,” Helen Irving, LiveOnNY president and CEO, told ABC. The surgery cost an estimated $1 million, according to reconstructive surgeon Dr. Edward Rodriguez, and was paid for by NYC Langone Medical Center. Hardison, who was told he had a 50-50 chance of surviving the surgery, still has constant pain and could still face potential complications from the surgery. So far, however, he’s enjoyed the feelings of normalcy the operation has provided. “I went to Macy’s to get clothes and I was just another guy, nobody is pointing or staring. I wasn’t scaring any kids,” he said. “It’s just—it’s very emotional, to have that.” The full interview with Hardison will air on ABC’s Nightline this week. \[[_ABC_](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/unprecedented-face-transplant-surgery-firefighter-hope-life/story?id=35218667)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4114911/face-transplant-surgery-most-extensive/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4114911/face-transplant-surgery-most-extensive/"},"headline":"Meet the Man Who Received the Most Extensive Face Transplant Ever","datePublished":"2015-11-16T20:52:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:40:24.350Z","description":"Pat Hardison is a former volunteer firefighter who was severely burned in 2001","url":"https://time.com/4114911/face-transplant-surgery-most-extensive/","keywords":["medicine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4ff0c486aef0a06/69887158ab6d7713266a72bf/eduardo-rodriguez-face-transplant-patrick-hardison-firefighter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb4ff0c486aef0a06/69887158ab6d7713266a72bf/eduardo-rodriguez-face-transplant-patrick-hardison-firefighter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Face Transplant","caption":"Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, who led the surgical team that did the face transplant on Patrick Hardison, a volunteer firefighter who was badly burned in a 2001 blaze, speaks during a news conference as he shows before-and-after images of Hardison in New York o","creditText":"Bebeto Matthews—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4114911/face-transplant-surgery-most-extensive/","name":"Meet the Man Who Received the Most Extensive Face Transplant Ever"}}]}] ```