The man who received the most extensive face transplant in history after suffering burns while working as a volunteer firefighter is speaking out about his life six years after the operation.
In 2001, Patrick Hardison, 43, was putting out a house fire in his hometown of Senatobia, Mississippi, when a burning ceiling fell on him.
He suffered severe burns to his head, neck, and upper torso and saw most of the skin burned off his face.
When doctors revealed he was at risk of going blind, Hardison started considering the idea of a face transplant, and underwent the life-threatening surgery in 2015.
The father-of-five says he no longer deals with people pointing and staring at him in public or parents comforting their crying children when they see his disfigured face.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News on Monday, Hardison said he wants other trauma victims to gain hope from his story and to learn that there are doctors who can help them recover from their injuries.
Patrick Hardison, 43, who underwent the most extensive face transplant in history said in an interview with Fox News on Monday (pictured) he wants his story to give other trauma victims hope and let them know they don't have to live with their injuries
Hardison told hsot Sean Hannity (pictured) about his accident, in which he suffered severe burns while working as a volunteer firefighter in Mississippi in September 2001
His ears, nose, lips and eyelids were burned off, and he had to have more than 70 surgeries to treat his injury. Pictured, left to right: Hardison's face before the operation, two months after the operation and one year after the operation
Hardison was responding to a housefire when a burning roof collapsed on his head in September 2001.
His helmet and breathing apparatus melted, and his eyelids, lips, nose and ears were burned off.
Hardison had to spend 63 days in a burn unit after the incident and doctors took skin from his thighs to replace the flesh that had melted off his face.
'I didn't actually see myself until probably November. I got injured in September, 'Hardison told host Sean Hannity.
'They had cut a little pinhole in one of my eyelids because they had everything covered, skin graft. I looked in the mirror and all I could do, I said: "This is it? I can't do this."'
Hardison said he got used to people pointing and staring at him and kids crying when they saw his disfigured face and underwent the operation after being at risk of going blind. Pictured; Hardison in March 2016, eight months after the transplant
