Disabled Man from Russia Volunteers for World's First Controversial 'Head Transplant'

A thirty-year-old disabled man from Moscow has volunteered to undergo the world’s first head transplant. Valery Spiridonov, a computer scientist by profession, who suffers from a fatal muscle-wasting disease, admitted that though he was afraid, his condition was deteriorating with every passing year. Spiridonov hopes that the 36-hour operation can be carried out next year.

Controversial Italian surgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero, who claims that he can cut off the man’s head and attach it to a healthy donor body, said that he "would not wish this on anyone."

But Spiridonov — who has the rare genetic Werdnig-Hoffman disease, which gradually wastes away muscles — says that he is willing to undergo the risky procedure to give himself a chance at living in a healthy body. "Am I afraid? Yes, of course I am. But it is not just very scary, but also very interesting," said Spiridonov. "But you have to understand that I don’t really have many choices," he said. "If I don’t try this chance my fate will be very sad. With every year my state is getting worse."

It has never been done on a human, but Canavaro claims that all the necessary science and technology is now in place. "I think we are now at a point when the technical aspects are all feasible," Canavaro has said.

However, critics have called Dr. Canavero, who is currently trying to secure funding for the extraordinary procedure, "nuts" and dubbed him "Dr. Frankenstein".

Source-ANI