Video provided by Associated Press

Sixteen months after transplant surgery gave Andy Sandness the face that had belonged to Calen "Rudy" Ross, he met Lilly Ross, the woman who had agreed to donate her high school sweetheart's visage to a man who lived nearly a decade without one.

The two came together last month in a meeting arranged by the Mayo Clinic, the same place where Andy underwent a 56-hour surgery, and the clinic's first such transplant.

With her toddler Leonard in tow, a tearful Lilly met Andy, and the two embraced. "I wanted to show you that your gift will not be wasted," Andy told Lilly.

© ABC News Lilly Ross says seeing Andy Sandness made her feel proud Lilly had fretted before the meeting, fearful of the certain reminders of her husband, who took his own life. Instead, she saw a man whose life had changed through her husband's gift, newly confident after 10 years of hiding from mirrors and staring eyes.

"It made me proud," Lilly said of the 32-year-old Andy. "The way Rudy saw himself ... he didn't see himself like that."

Like Andy, Rudy had enjoyed hunting, fishing and exploring the outdoors, and like Andy he had suffered from mental health issues.

In late 2006 in his native Wyoming, Andy made an attempt to take his life that left most of his face destroyed. Rudy died by suicide in south-western Minnesota a decade later.

By then, Andy had receded from contact with the outside world, ashamed of his injuries.

© ABC News Andy Sandness is constantly working to retrain his nerves to operate in sync with his new face.

Surgeries to rebuild his face had left him a quarter-sized mouth, and his prosthetic nose frequently fell off.

Hope first came in 2012 when the Mayo Clinic started exploring a face transplant program and again in early 2016 when he was wait-listed for the procedure.

Lilly had already agreed to donate her husband's lungs, kidneys and other organs to patients.

Rudy and Andy's ages, blood type, skin colour and facial structure were such a near-perfect match that Andy's surgeon, Dr Samir Mardini, said the two men could have been cousins.

Eight months pregnant at the time, Lilly said one reason to go forward was that she wanted the couple's child to one day understand what his father did to help others.

More than a year after a surgery that took a team of more than 60 medical professionals, Andy is finding a groove in everyday life while still treasuring the simple tasks he lost for 10 years, such as chewing a piece of pizza.

"I wouldn't go out in public. I hated going into bigger cities," Andy said.

"And now I'm just really spreading my wings and doing the things I missed out on; going out to restaurants and eating, going dancing."

Life with a transplanted face takes work, every day; Andy is on a daily regimen of anti-rejection medication.

Dr Mardini and the rest of Andy's medical team have delighted in seeing their patient and friend open up since the procedure.

"It turns out Andy is not as much of an introvert as we thought," Dr Mardini said.

"He's enjoying these times, where he's missed out on 10 years of his life."

Lilly and Andy plan to forge a stronger connection; Andy said he will contribute to a trust fund for Leonard's education.

"Meeting Andy, it has finally given me closure," she said.