Robert Chelsea, 68, of Los Angeles awaits admission to a risky and rare face transplant surgery.
11.5. 17:30
TV-Lehti Reviews: The new My Brave Face reality series follows people whose faces are disfigured for various reasons.
– The most difficult thing for me here is that people stare at me. I think it’s really rude, says Ethan D’Amato in an early episode.
He is a simple 15-year-old boy from Texas who loves playing the violin, loves fashion and dreams of studying art.
However, Ethan doesn’t look quite ordinary. He has a rare and inherited polymorphic disease of the nervous system and skin, neurofibromatosis type 1, which causes uncontrolled growth of tumors.
A tumor on Ethan’s face makes it difficult to eat and speak. Photo: MTV Ava
The parents already knew about the disease when Ethan was born.
– His face was different and his head was bigger. Before we were told anything, I knew in my heart that all was not well. Peter D’Amato, Ethan’s father, says, “I went to the bathroom and cried my eyes out.
In the first episode, main character Ethan has been waiting for jaw surgery for a long time.
The tumor in his face has slowly forced his jawbone out of place, which is why his teeth are not together. The surgery will make it easier for him to eat and talk.
Now a teenager, Ethan has grown physically enough to undergo major surgery.
When 68-year-old Robert Chelsea woke up from a six-month coma, hospital staff described him as a miracle man.
In August 2013, Robert was involved in a car accident where he suffered 45 percent of his skin burns. The man underwent more than 30 operations, and it was not believed that he would survive.
Robert is waiting for a suitable organ donor so he can undergo face transplant surgery. Photo: MTV
Robert’s face has suffered the most in the accident. He lost his lip and can’t close his mouth. Eating and drinking is very difficult.
Although, according to him, it is not the most difficult thing to endure.
– The thing I miss most is being able to kiss my daughter on the cheek again. It would be great to be able to do that again, says Robert in the second episode of the programme.
Soon it may be possible again.
Robert is waiting to be admitted for face transplant surgery. It is indeed a complex and risky operation in which the patient is transplanted with new facial tissue from an organ donor.
Only 14 face transplant surgeries have been performed in the United States. Robert would become the first African-American and the oldest person to undergo the surgery.
In the show’s second episode, we follow Robert’s journey leading up to the surgery and the time after.
A total of 40 people are responsible for the operation, including surgeons, doctors and nurses. The surgery lasts for 16 hours.
The six-part series also hears from experts who are familiar with diseases, syndromes and their treatments.
If the operation is successful, it could mark the beginning of a new life for the main characters of the series.
The fact that in the series we get to follow the main characters’ doctor visits and surgery visits unfortunately remains the most interesting aspect of the series.
The American-British series collapses into the familiar overdramatization of the Yankees. Although the series features a lot of the main characters’ experiences and interactions with their loved ones, the dialogues are superficial and scripted.
My Brave Face Documentary Series Avala 10.5. From 22:00.
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