Aaron James was working as a high-voltage lineman in June 2021, when his face touched a live wire. Seventy-two hundred volts of electricity coursed through his body, costing him his left eye and much of the arm that reached up to try to protect it. It also burned his nose, lips, cheek and chin down to the bone. In May he received the first-ever face and eye transplant at NYU Langone Health. The 17-hour procedure required a 14-person medical team working across two operating rooms and followed 15 full-scale rehearsals over three months, including 3D-printed replicas of James' anatomy to help the team understand what they needed to do. He can't see out of the transplanted eye yet and may never, but he can eat, smell and taste again. He also regained more of his ability to speak and is no longer hooked up to tubes or machines. "Since the transplant, I tell people I can't walk past a mirror without looking at it," James said. "It has made me stand up taller." Read the full story at the link in our bio. 📸: Courtesy of NYU Langone Health