After almost two years of suffering, Cameron Underwood was now given a second chance to live normally after undergoing a 25-hour face transplant surgery.
It was on June 26, 2016, when Underwood, a welder, and machinist from North California, decided to end his life by shooting himself below the chin. The suicidal attempt happened after Underwood has been intoxicated by alcohol the whole day.
With the injuries he got from the incident, his mother, Bev Bailey-Potter, was told by the doctors that his son got no chance of surviving. According to her, "The doctor said, 'Your son's face is dust.' We went into the emergency room and saw him. I was just in shock." She added, "The bottom of his face was covered up; he had his eyes, his forehead. We were told that he would not survive."
Fortunately, after several surgeries, the heaven seems to answer Bev's prayers and miraculously healed his son. Though Underwood's life is back, due to the consequences of the shot, his life has changed forever. The once active soul was left unable to eat alone without the help of his feeding tube. He can't even talk normally or communicate with his friends and families anymore.
Underwood thought it was going to be his fate forever, as posted by People. But, everything changed after reading a successful testimony of a face transplant program from one of the stories featured in People's December 2016 issue. He decided to talk to the people behind it and instantly got assisted.
Several months after, experts from NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City headed by Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, the program's director, finally found a face donor that complements his features. His match was Will Fisher, a 23-year-old filmmaker, who died early this year.
Now, the 26-year-old Underwood is currently getting much better after his face transplant surgery. Though he still can't use his lips and mouth that much, he still very happy with the results.
"I can smile, I'm working on closing my lips all the way, they don't close all the way... but they're getting there," he said." "They're a lot better than they were," Underwood added.
Underwood also shared one of the things he misses so much that he is pretty excited to experience once again. According to Daily Mail, the one thing that he has longed to try for a very long time is to be able to chew, taste different flavors and eat different mouth-watering foods again. To him, this is simple yet one of the most valuable things -- to be able to enjoy life and all of the things in between.
