Richard Norris is now seen as an
experiment by people around. Nevertheless, he is fine when people subject him
as human subject or experiment. Face transplant
gave him a new life with a new face. Ricardo was 22 years old when he
accidently shot himself in the face. The accident left a deep impact on him and
he took time to recover from the haunted memory of the accident. He does not
remember how and why the accident happened, even his mom does not know about
it. Gunshot had blown off his cheekbones, nose, lips, teeth, jaw, chin, and
tongue. He just left with his brown eyes and a bad face.
Turn in
Richard Norris life
One day, while surfing on internet, Richard’s
mom found Eduardo Rodriguez, who is a well-known Baltimore surgeon of
Reconstructive facial surgery. He was the one who gave hope to Richard that
even he can live a normal life. Surgeon promised him that he would make him
look normal with the help of a face transplant. For a few years, the surgeon
Rodriguez performed dozens of surgeries on Richards face. The surgeon made use
of Richard’s flash to construct the shape of the nose from the appendage tissue
from his forearm. Chin was reconstructed using the flesh of his leg. Nevertheless,
there was still time for Richard’s face to get normal. The surgeon has a
grander idea in his mind. He had to reach the level of perfection. Hence, he
was practiced face transplant on
dead bodies and cadavers.
On March 19, 2012, Rodriguez started
final surgery on the face of the record. He was the only hope for Richard and
his family. His mom believed that Rodriguez is sent by God to help his son to
achieve his goal of normal life. Rodriguez, while performing the Face transplant surgery removed the
skin and flesh that was left in the Richard’s disfigured shape and attached a
new face on his skull. He stabilized new flesh and skin with screws, tapped
together with jaws, and then finally draped the skin. He sewed the skin down to
the flesh.
Face
transplant
has given new life to Richard Norris. The surgery took around thirty hours
where Rodriguez and his team were working non-stop. After the surgery when his
mom saw him, she told her husband on the phone that they have their Richard
Back! That moment was overwhelming and it is the greatest achievement for
Rodriguez and his team.
