II.

Desjardins was disfigured in a hunting accident in 2011. His injury wasn't just skin deep — the incident severely damaged the nerves, muscles and bones in his face.

He went through four reconstructive surgeries, but despite doctors' best efforts, he was left in chronic pain and struggling with daily life. Since Desjardins had no nose, jaw or teeth, breathing was difficult. Surgeons created an air passage by making a hole in the front of his neck to his windpipe, a procedure called a tracheostomy.

Desjardins before the accident. (Submitted by Desjardins family)

Desjardins before the accident. (Submitted by Desjardins family)

He couldn’t really vocalize, so every time he wanted to speak, Maurice had to press a black button in the middle of his throat, which redirected the airflow around his tracheostomy. Without lips, pronouncing words was difficult.



Meanwhile, eating carried the constant fear of choking.

When he learned of Desjardins’s situation, Borsuk was convinced he could help — that surgery could alleviate the daily struggles and the pain, not to mention improve Desjardins’s overall quality of life and appearance.

The surgeon remembered explaining his proposal — and the risks — in a long conversation with Desjardins and his wife, Gaétane.

"I said, 'Maurice, you could die on the table, or even right after the operation,'" said Borsuk. "He replied, 'Do you think I have a life now?'"

Desjardins was all in, no matter what. Unfavourable odds didn't faze him one bit.

"I am always being judged by others. I'd rather die than keep living like this," he said in the year leading up to his surgery. "I don't care what face I'm going to get, as long as I look like everybody else."



Maurice Desjardins was severely injured in a 2011 hunting accident. (Jérôme Voyer-Poirier/Radio-Canada)

Maurice Desjardins was severely injured in a 2011 hunting accident. (Jérôme Voyer-Poirier/Radio-Canada)

While Desjardins was immediately on board, the procedure couldn't go forward until he'd been thoroughly assessed and cleared as a suitable candidate.

And once he got the green light, Desjardins would still have to wait for the right donor.

"For us, Dr. Borsuk is like a god, because he gave us a hope for a new life."

Borsuk warned the couple that the road to surgery would be a long and challenging one, and it would require their full commitment if it was going to work.

Even the slightest medical setback could derail everything, and the patient’s health had to be in peak condition.

Desjardins agreed to change his lifestyle without hesitation, giving up smoking and drinking practically overnight.

For Maurice and Gaétane Desjardins, what Borsuk was offering went beyond what they thought possible. In the spring of 2017, when preparations were well underway, Gaétane tearfully told CBC/Radio-Canada’s current affairs program Découverte, "For us, Dr. Borsuk is like a god, because he gave us a hope for a new life."

Before they could start that next chapter, there would be months of preparations.

In early 2017, Maurice Desjardins visited the sprawling Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in eastern Montreal to undergo a week of intense and invasive screening. The team had to be sure he was physically and mentally prepared for the journey on which he was about to embark.

For one thing, the operation itself would last more than a day.

Desjardins and his wife, Gaétane, knew that by agreeing to the surgery, he would have to undergo strenuous testing to ensure a transplant could succeed. (Charles Dagenais/Radio-Canada)

Desjardins and his wife, Gaétane, knew that by agreeing to the surgery, he would have to undergo strenuous testing to ensure a transplant could succeed. (Charles Dagenais/Radio-Canada)

Desjardins was checked for anything that could compromise the precarious procedure: latent infections, cancer and the risk of a heart attack.

Weighing heavily on everyone’s mind was the possibility that Desjardins’s body could reject the donor’s facial tissue, which could lead to death if they weren’t able to find another donor in time. It could happen immediately after the surgery, or even years later.

In addition to the physical evaluations, Maurice and Gaétane met regularly with a psychiatrist, Dr. Hélène St-Jacques. Even though Desjardins had shown complete trust and faith in his doctors, St-Jacques had to monitor his mental state during the preparation process.

What he'd signed up for was no minor thing: In receiving a new face, Desjardins would be getting a new physical identity, and once in place, that change could be profoundly disturbing or upsetting to him.

Borsuk reassured Maurice and Gaétane that his decision to go ahead with the surgery would rely on the word of the psychiatrist. "If ever Dr. St-Jacques says to me, 'Maurice isn't ready,' even if it's the day of the surgery, I will stop everything," Borsuk said. "I am not taking any psychological risks with him."

But Desjardins passed all the tests with flying colours, and moved on to the next stage: waiting for a donor.

