A woman met the man with her dead brother's face and it was emotional

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Face transplant
(Image credit: Screenshot from 60 Minutes Australia)

Rebekah Aversano's brother was struck by a minivan and killed three years ago, when he was 21. Aversano's Maryland family donated Joshua's face to Richard Norris, who received a transplant in 2012 for the teeth, jaw, tongue muscles, and nerves after being severely disfigured in a years-old shooting accident, The Guardian reports. The risky procedure took the University of Maryland team 36 hours.

When Aversano met Norris, a 39-year-old from Virginia, she asked permission to stroke his face.

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The 60 Minutes Australia trailer for the meeting is surreal. Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman
Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.