Second U.S. Face Transplant Patient Regains Feeling

June 18, 2009 — -- It's no surprise that James Maki's favorite song is "Imagine." Just months after his miracle face transplant , Maki, America's second person to undergo the procedure, is settling down and beginning to feel his smile again.

In 2005, a fall onto the electrified third rail of a Boston subway left Maki badly burned and his face horribly disfigured.

He doesn't remember anything from the accident, but after living for years unable to eat solid foods and suffering unbearable cruelty from onlookers, he received a face transplant April 9. His donor was Joseph Helfgot, who had died undergoing a heart transplant.

Days after the surgery, Maki asked for a mirror and was elated with what he saw.

"It was that good," Maki said. "I saw my old self."

When Helfgot's wife, Susan Whitman, met with Maki, she saw a trace of her husband.

"My husband had a very nice, Jewish nose. It's ... his, as you can see from the picture," Whitman said.

Whitman said that she will be happy when Maki can smile again.

"I'd like to be able to smile again, too." Maki said.

Maki's face is still numb, but he has hope

"I can feel it coming back now," Maki said. "That's a long, long process. But I'm sure I'll get there."

Though the feeling has not completely returned to Maki's face, he has started to grow a beard. As for future plans, Maki said that besides eating Japanese food, he wants to settle down and live his life.

"I enjoy life," Maki said. "I'm just starting to live it now."

And as Maki continues to heal, the medical world prepares for an increase in the number of procedures and an expansion in the scope of transplantations.