FOR the first time since receiving the most detailed face transplant in the world, a former Mississippi firefighter is having a face-to-face with the donor’s mom.

    It was an emotional scene when Pat Hardison, the 42-year-old who was left mutilated after a 2001 building fire, and Nancy Millar, whose son donated his face following a deadly bicycle accident, met for the first time following the groundbreaking procedure nearly a year and a half ago.

    “May I kiss your forehead?” Millar asked the father of three in footage captured by Nightline. She then explained she and her son used to have a tradition of kissing each other on the forehead.

    The scar Millar used to kiss on her late-son’s face, where he had the chicken pox, was still visible after the transplant.

    “Thank you for being so strong and healthy,” Millar said to the recipient of her son’s face. “Thank you for risking your life to do this. When I knew you were a firefighter, I knew you had the strength to go through this. I am as proud of you as I was of my own son,” she continued. “It’s not David’s face, it’s your face.”

    Millar’s son, David Rodebaugh died in a biking accident in Brooklyn, New York, last summer. He was 26 years old.

    (SD-Agencies)