A Woman Donated Her Dead Brother's Face And I Hate Where Science Is Headed

Daily Mail- They gave doctors permission to give his face to Richard Norris, who was horribly disfigured almost 18 years ago when he accidentally blew off most of his face with a shotgun.

It was an operation that transformed his life.

The incredible meeting between Rebekah Aversano, Joshua's sister, and Norris has been filmed for 60 Minutes on Nine.

It was set up partly so that he could thank the Aversano family for 'saving my life'.

As they meet for the first time at his home, Rebekah asks Richard: 'Do you mind if I touch it?'

She does and then steps back in amazement: 'Wow, this is the face I grew up with.'

Norris underwent more than 30 operations to try and correct the damage and restore his features. The long and painful process resulted in little sign of improvement, leaving him depressed and at times suicidal.

'We can definitely see our son in him. Some of the facial features would definitely be our son, so we could see similarities, very much so.'


How do I put this lightly? No, no, FUCK NO. This is not becoming a thing. Hard pass. You get one face, that's just life. You blow it off with a shotgun then you kind of deserve the subsequent depression. This guys looks like the Alien in 'Men In Black' after he takes over Edgar's body. That was a movie. A fictional movie. I refuse to live in a world where I could potentially walk by the face of a dead relative or friend on the street. I don't care if it makes one person feel better about themselves, because the result of scaring the shit out of everyone that knows the deceased is not worth a single individual's feelings.

Let's play a little game of pros and cons...

Pro's- One stranger that you don't know gets a new face that he will probably blow off with a shotgun again.

Con's- You have a walking, talking ghost wandering the streets. Is that not the worst way to mourn the death of a loved one? By throwing his face on an idiot's body? This kids should have had to undergo a personality test before he was granted the face. If he didn't achieve at least 65% compatibility with the dead then he has to keep his own damn face. If you are going to bring someone's image back to existence you better at least makes sure he's worth hanging out with.  I can't even believe this woman asked to touch it. I would have found the nearest hill and ran straight for it. I'm literally cool with any other transplant, but science has gone too far. Give a guy a liver or a heart and next thing you now he's trying to take your face. Wouldn't you want the lasting image of your brother's face to be a smiling, handsome young man, and not a some Frankenstein-esque creature? Can't we just let the dead stay dead and disfigured stay disfigured? You don't want to live life with a mangled mug then next time don't stop short of the insurance bullet.