史上最強換臉術歷時26小時完成

Fifteen years ago, Patrick Hardison, then a 27-year old firefighter, suffered a massive burn injury to his face when he ran into a burning house and the ceiling collapsed. He lost his ears, lips, eyelids and most of his nose.

15年前，27歲的消防員帕特里克·哈迪森跑進一座着火的房屋救火時，天花板掉落導致他臉部大面積嚴重燒傷。他失去了耳朵、嘴脣、眼皮和大部分的鼻子。

Hardison made history in 2015 when he became the recipient of the most extensive face transplant ever. His surgery is part of an innovative and controversial shift in the field of organ transplantation.

哈迪森在2015年成爲了史上最大面積臉部移植手術的接受者。他的手術在器官移植領域屬於既有創新又有爭議的移植手術。

People are now getting transplants of organs that may not save their lives, like a heart, but can dramatically improve them, like a new face.

現在人們接受器官移植手術不一定是要挽救生命，例如心臟；也可以極大改善自身形象，例如一張嶄新的臉。

Before his face transplant, Hardison grew depressed, lost his tire-selling business, became addicted to painkillers and split with his wife of 10 years.

在臉部手術之前，哈迪森變得很沮喪。他失去了輪胎銷售的生意，對止疼片產生了依賴性，並和結婚10年的妻子離異。

He went under the knife 71 times to improve the look and function of his face, yet almost always hid behind a baseball cap and sunglasses.

他經受了71次開刀手術來改善面貌，完善面部功能。但還是要藏在棒球帽和太陽鏡的遮蔽之下。

When his doctor told him that his lack of eyelids was destroying his sight, that was the last straw. "I hated life," Hardison says.

當他的醫生告訴他眼皮缺失導致視力受損時，他再也無法忍受了。哈迪森說："我痛恨生命。"

Last August, Hardison underwent a 26-hour surgery to replace his face with that of a 26-year-old bike mechanic who'd been killed in a cycling accident.

去年8月，哈迪森經歷了一場26小時的換臉手術，"換"上了一名死於自行車賽事故的26歲自行車手的臉。

Dr. Eduardo, head of the NYU Langone Medical Center face-transplant program, told Hardison he had only a 50% chance of surviving the procedure, since no one had successfully transplanted as much face and scalp tissue before.

紐約大學朗格尼醫學中心的臉部移植項目帶頭人愛德華醫生告訴哈迪森，他只有50%的機會在這過程中活下來，因爲先前從未有人成功移植過如此多的臉部和頭皮組織。

A year after the surgery, Hardison says he's doing great. Though he remains on potent drugs to prevent his body from rejecting his face, so far, that hasn't happened.

手術後一年，哈迪森表示自己過的很好。儘管他留存了強效藥物以防身體對臉產生排斥，但是目前爲止這還未發生。

He's happy with his new life and recently took his five children to Disney World, where he was able to swim with them for the first time since his face injury in 2001.

他對新的生活感到很幸福。最近，他帶着5個孩子去了迪斯尼樂園，並且在2001年受傷後終於能夠首次游泳。

"I would've given up a long time ago if it wasn't for them," Hardison says of his kids.

哈迪森提到他的孩子時表示："如果不是爲了他們，我很早之前就放棄了。"