Mitch Hunter was only 21 years old when the car he was riding in crashed into a 10,000-volt electric tower after a night out.
For five minutes, the strong electric current continuously pumped through his body leaving him with severe burns to his face, hands and legs.
He was in the hospital for two months, but had to undergo a total of 67 facial reconstructive surgeries over the next four years.
A decade after the accident and after being the father of three children, Mitch was the second person in the United States to have a face transplant.
He received his face from a donor, a man who had died, and now he has fully revealed his incredible transformation.
“I barely remember anything about when the wires touched my face. One minute I was helping the injured girl by trying to get her away from the pole, the next she was in the hospital almost a month later,” said Mitch of Indianapolis, Indiana.
In a story published by The Mirror, Mitch, who also served in the United States military, said that when he woke up the first thing that made him notice the severity of his injuries was to see his mother and stepmother together in the hospital. “They were in the room comforting themselves because they usually hated each other,” he recalled.
“For a few days no one would show me a mirror, until my then ex-girlfriend came to visit and brought one. I can't describe the feeling I had when I saw myself like this, it didn't feel real, it was unrecognizable. The burn on my leg was so severe that they also had to amputate me below the knee. I couldn't believe how drastically my life had changed in a matter of minutes,” he said.
Mitch woke up 27 days after the accident, surrounded by his family without any memory of the accident.
I needed 20 skin grafts from the leg and back to treat the skin on the face and neck that had “melted”.
In 2011 he had a face transplant and said he did it because he “didn't want his children to be ashamed of him in the future.”
Some 30 doctors spent more than 14 hours reconstructing his face during the risky operation.
Fortunately, his risk paid off and now he is unrecognizable with a crowded beard and a full feeling on his face.
“In total, the surgery took 14 and a half hours after about six months of seeing different surgeons across the country. I took my face entirely from an organ donor, using his skin, soft tissue, cartilage from his nose, beard and eyebrows,” he explained.
“The surgeons removed all the scar tissue on my face, connected blood vessels and nerve endings. Oddly enough, I can grow the beard that once belonged to the donor, which is really strange!” , he said.
Mitch says that having his face transplanted was the best decision he has ever made and that thanks to that he has been able to leave the accident behind him and have a family.
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