AP Exclusive: Twin tragedies give survivor a new face
ROCHESTER, Minn. — He’d been waiting for this day, and when his doctor handed him the mirror, Andy Sandness stared at his image and absorbed the enormity of the moment: He had a new face, one that had belonged to another man.
His father and his brother, joined by several doctors and nurses at Mayo Clinic, watched as he studied his swollen features. He was just starting to heal from one of the rarest surgeries in the world — a face transplant, the first at the medical centre. He had the nose, cheeks, mouth, lips, jaw, chin, even the teeth of his donor. Resting in his hospital bed, he still couldn’t speak clearly, but he had something to say.
He scrawled four words in a spiral notebook:
“Far exceeded my expectations,” he wrote, handing it to Dr. Samir Mardini, who read the message to the group.