He was taking the mirror and [taking] it back and forth like that
and after he make like that and just says, "Yes I'm nice."
In May 2018 Dr. Daniel Borsuk and a team of surgeons completed the first face transplant in Canadian history
at l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont in Montreal.
The patient, Maurice Desjardins, was injured by an accidental gunshot.
It's now May 2019 and he's back at home with his wife Gaétane
in Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette living with another man's face.
Lots of people stop and ask for a picture of him with them, then I
take a picture with them. He likes that. He likes people. He always
answer the people there and through what the people ask.
Yeah.
Every time he takes pills, he's thinking about the donor.
He would give them a hug and a kiss
and tell them, "Thank you very much," because [they] changed his life forever.
He knows he [has] to take pills but now his life is not the same at all,
it's better because the other way — the people [were] looking at him.
After he didn't want to go out anymore.
He stopped drinking and stopped smoking.
You know he find me back because, when he was drinking, I didn't want him anymore.
That [was] the life.
They had to take out two teeth again because the donor had a big mouth because
[there was] lot of teeth — he had all his teeth. Then they [had] to take out two more
because [he's] got a little mouth that doesn't have no space
to put all those teeth. That's why he can't close his mouth.
Look, yeah. He [spent] a long time in the hospital but now he's home.
[It's] the first time he's home for almost three weeks.
Very good.
Happy. He's happy and we're getting closer together.
We weren't close when he was drinking because I don't like the drink. I don't like the [booze]
and now we're going to do something with our life.
Us, together.
Maurice will continue to face challenges. He's been through a lot.
The gunshot wound that led him down this path caused chronic pain
and he turned to alcohol for relief.
To qualify for his surgery, he had to stop drinking and smoking for two years.
Since the surgery, he's had several infections related to the drugs he'll have to take for the rest of his life
to keep his body from rejecting his new face.
He's had an infection of his eyelids and the skin on one thigh.
In March, he needed emergency surgery for a perforated bowel.
Every time Maurice comes in with an infection, the doctors have to keep him hospitalized for several weeks.
Maurice was so ill after the surgery that he stopped doing his rehab.
This has left his mouth to hang open.
Dr. Borsuk will do a revision surgery on Maurice's jaw which will help his mouth close completely.
If Maurice resumes the facial exercises, everything should fall into place.
With any transplant, it's going to take time to establish a normal life.
Gaétane and Maurice are optimistic.
We're looking to do something together.
Just me and him, we're going to go fishing and take walks.
And go to the restaurant to eat even ice cream, or something like that.
We wanted to get remarried [on the] 17th of August.
The first time we married was 16th of August. Now we're going to renew our vows.
Because it's not the same man!
It is not the same face, that's why.
Hey, Maurice?
Yeah the same guy, see, I'm the same guy but not the same face.