Firefighter lost his face saving a woman… now he’s had it replaced with one from a dead cyclist (Photo)

A FIREFIGHTER has undergone a life-changing face transplant after he was unrecognisably burned while rescuing a woman.

Patrick Hardison, 41, had the most extensive face transplant ever attempted back in August when his own skin was replaced by the face of a handsome 26-year-old artist.

The man from New York, named as David P. Rodebaugh, tragically died while cycling around the city — but his face has allowed the father-of-three to see again, 14 years after a ceiling collapsed on him during a blaze.

Pat was just 27 when the traumatic incident happened at a home in Mississippi, US, in September 2001, leaving him fighting for his life.

He suffered third-degree burns on his head, neck and upper torso.

His extensive injuries forced him to stay in a burns centre in Tennessee for two months, where doctors used skin from his legs to repair damage to his head.

But the damage to his eyelids was so bad that surgeons had to sew them almost entirely shut, leaving him with extremely limited vision.

Having had 71 surgeries, he recalled: "I was almost totally blind. I could see just a little bit."

The trauma destroyed his lips and ears, leaving him with only a partial nose and a face covered in visible scarring — which left his kids terrified.

He said: “My kids were scared to death of me. You can't blame them. They’re young kids.

“And you got to realise we always did stuff every day, and all of the sudden that changed just overnight.”

This 1999 family photo provided by Lori Taylor shows her brother Patrick Hardison, with his two daughters, Averi, left, and Alison in Senatobia, Miss. After being badly burned in a 2001 blaze, Hardison, a volunteer firefighter, has received what appears to be the most extensive face transplant ever, covering his head and much of his neck. The surgery, announced Monday, Nov. 16, 2015, took place in mid-August 2015 in New York at the NYU Langone Medical Center. (Courtesy of Lori Taylor via AP)

Pat claims his three children were terrified of him when he was left unrecognisable by the fire  AP

But the seamless transplant includes both of his ears and extends from the top of his head, over his skull and down to his collarbones in front, reaching far enough back to a small patch of his original hair.

He was told he had just a 50/50 chance of surviving the complex procedure at NYU Langone Medical Center, which lasted 26 hours.

Pat is still receiving physical therapy, but says the op has completely turned his life around.

Now he’s hoping to achieve his dream of getting back on the road again after the operation gave him back his sight.

He said: "I'll start driving again."

His new face will soon be so convincing that "a casual observer will not notice anything that is odd" according to the surgeon Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, which Pat said will make him feel “average” again having been seen as abnormal for such a long time.

He admitted: “I prayed daily that there would be a miracle to help me get through this, and you know, it’s all in God’s timing.

"I used to get stared at all the time, but now I'm just an average guy.”

And although he can’t return to saving lives as a firefighter due to insurance issues, he wants to inspire others to live their lives to the full by becoming a motivational speaker.

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