Woman meets man who has her dead husband's face after transplant

Recipient Andy Sandness tells widow: 'I wanted to show you that your gift will not be wasted'

A US woman had an emotional meeting with a man who was given the face of her late husband in a surgical transplant.

Lilly Ross’s husband, Calen “Rudy” Ross, from Minnesota, killed himself last year. Shortly after his death, his face was surgically removed and attached to Andy Sandness, 32, from Wyoming.

Sixteen months later, the clinic that oversaw the transplant arranged a meeting between Ms Ross and Mr Sandness.

Ms Ross told the Associated Press she had been nervous about the meeting because she feared that seeing her husband’s face again would bring back painful memories.

However, the fact that Mr Sandness has very different eyes and bone structure means he does not resemble Mr Ross.

Mr Sandness lost most of his face after shooting himself in 2006. He put a rifle under his chin and pulled the trigger but survived, albeit with major scarring.

The face transplant operation took 56 hours and involved more than 60 medical professionals (AP)

Mr Ross shot himself dead in Minnesota last year. His widow, who was eight months pregnant at the time, had already agreed that his organs should be donated when it was suggested to her that his face could also be transplanted.

Mr Ross and Mr Sandness’s ages, blood type, skin colour and facial structure were so similar that the surgeon who oversaw the operation, Dr Samir Mardini, said the two men could have been cousins.

Ms Ross and Mr Sandness hugged upon seeing each other. The widow took her young son Leonard with her to the meeting and said one of the reasons she agreed to the donation was that she wanted him to understand what his father had done to help others.

Ms Ross, who met her late husband at school, said: “It made me proud. The way Rudy saw himself, he didn’t see himself like that.”

The transplant operation lasted 56 hours and involved more than 60 medical professionals working to lay the donated face onto Mr Sandness’s tissue. Surgeons then restored his nose, jaws, teeth, salivary glands and facial muscles.

The 32-year-old, who had lived as a recluse for almost ten years because of embarrassment over his injuries, said the new face had transformed his life, although he still has to take daily anti-rejection pills and is working to retrain his nerves and muscles.

He said: “I wouldn’t go out in public. I hated going into bigger cities. And now I’m just really spreading my wings and doing the things I missed out on – going out to restaurants and eating, going dancing.”

Ms Ross said the meeting had given her “closure”, while Mr Sandness said he wanted to help contribute to a trust fund for Leonard’s education.

Explaining why he wanted to meet Ms Ross, he told her: “I wanted to show you that your gift will not be wasted.”