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The lad who had the world's first face and double hand transplant revealed that cruel trolls brand him 'Chucky'.
Joseph DiMeo, 24, from the US, was driving home from a night shift as a product tester in 2018 when he cheated death.
He fell asleep at the wheel as his car hit the curb then crashed into a utility pole before flipping several times.
READ MORE: 'I was trolled when my eyes bulged out – but look so different after treatment'
His vehicle quickly lit ablaze into a fiery inferno which left Joe trapped and being touched alive before a stranger dragged him out.
The lad miraculously survived the initial crash even though he sustained third-degree burns over 80% of his body.
But, the journey to recovery would be a long one.
Doctors put Joe straight into a coma for three and a half months to try and stabilise him.
Although his life was saved, his looks transformed forever.
As his face was severely disfigured from the accident, as well as losing his finger tips, Joe would spend the next two years hiding away from the world on his parent's couch.
That was until he was contacted by surgeon Dr Eduardo Rodriguez who had a proposition for him.
He was offered a face and double hand transplant and felt like he had nothing to lose.
After a 23 hour operation in 2020, Joe received the first successful face and double hand transplant in the world.
Now with the face of the 47-year-old donor, Joe is living life like never before.
But despite all he has been through, not everyone has been kind about Joe and his new face.
“I get trolled but it doesn’t bother me,” Joe exclusively shared with us.
“When I go live on TikTok a lot, I get more trolling."
He added: "They call me Chucky but it doesn’t bother me, it gets boring after a while.
“So I try and give them other names to call me like ‘Sloth’ from Goonies.
“It just gets boring after a while being called the same name.
“So at least be more creative with it!
“I like to joke around with it. I’ll say it bothers my girlfriend more and it bothers my mum.
“I tell them not to look at it.”
While he ignores the cruel jibes of trolls comparing him to the fictional serial killer doll, Joe is dealing with more important things.
It didn't take Joe long to pick up his passion once again – so he is now back driving behind the wheel.
He also met his girlfriend when she messaged on Instagram after she learnt about his case at university while she was studying nursing.
And the lad is currently writing a book about his wild life so far.
Although the procedure was successful, and the first of its kind, Joe is still recovering and waiting for the swelling of his face to go down, even after three years post-op.
"I think it's my face," he said.
"Leading up to the surgery the thought of someone else's face on me but didn't have that thought afterwards."
Joe continued: "I was just ready for the therapy, and that's all I've been focused on – the therapy.
"It didn't really care about how I looked as I went for a whole year with a burnt face, well I'd rather have a swollen face than a burnt one.
"So having somebody else's face, it didn't really matter to me.
"It was just getting back to the training of the hands and stuff like that."
Joe will be in recovery for the rest of his life and has already had over 20 reconstructive surgeries since his accident.
But if it means he can get on with his life like normal, the lad is severely motivated to do whatever it takes to achieve that.
"There's not a time frame on the swelling," he explained.
"The last surgery I had was called debaulking, where they take some of the swelling out manually. I had that done maybe a year and a half ago."
Joe concluded: "So right now, it's been pretty good, the swelling has been coming down a lot lately.
"Maybe if it becomes too 'saggy' the surgeon can pull it back a little bit, but he hasn't said anything about any surgeries yet."
He now spends some of his time educating people on his transplant journey on TikTok.
Joe has also created a GoFundMe to help fund his book, you can find it here.
- Exclusives
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