Terminally Ill Russian Ready To Undergo First HEAD Transplant Surgery

This is not something you hear about everyday…

30 year old Russian Valery Spiridonov suffers from the genetic condition Werdnig-Hoffman muscle wasting disease. It’s a disease he’s had since he was one, and stops any muscle development. Consequently, he has almost zero motor ability, and he says the disease worsens every day.

According to MailOnline, Valery has decided to undergo the world’s first head transplant surgery. He has been in constant contact with an Italian doctor, Dr Sergio Canavero, who claims he can cut off his head and attach it to a healthy body.

Like, seriously?

The plan is to sever both Valery and the donor’s (a brain dead person with a perfectly healthy body) head simultaneously. The patient’s head would then be attached to the donor body, and sealed with polyethylene glycol, a glue like substance- to fuse the two ends of the spinal cord together.

The muscles and blood supply would be stitched up, before the patient is placed into a four week coma to prevent movement whilst the body and head heal together.

Most medical professionals see it as a virtually impossible procedure, and the one time such an experiment was conducted, using a monkey in 1970- the monkey died a week later because the body rejected the new head.

Valery though, is ready to take that risk.

“I do understand the risks of such surgery. They are multiple. We can’t even imagine what exactly can go wrong”

With his condition though, that’s a risk he’s willing to take.