'Dr. Frankenstein' to conduct world's first human head transplant

Valery Spiridonov would rather go under the knife than let his disease kill him.

Dr. Sergio Canavero, nicknamed Dr. Frankenstein, believes he can conduct a controversial operation to give a terminally ill man one more chance at life.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Valery Spiridonov suffers from the very serious muscular atrophy disease Werdnig-Hoffman Disease (NORD).

As NORD slowly atrophies his muscles, Spiridonov will eventually kill Spiridonov, who is currently bound to a wheelchair.

As Spiridonov's condition worsened, it was unsurprising for him to volunteer to be Italian Dr. Canavero's first test subject.

"If you want something to be done, you need to participate in it," Spiridonov explained. "I do understand the risks of such surgery. They are multiple. We can't even imagine what exactly can go wrong. I'm afraid that I wouldn't live long enough to see it happen to someone else."

Dr. Canavero named the procedure HEAVEN, head anastomosis venture, and the 36-hour operation is expected to cost roughly $15.6 million (Ł14 million).

Spiridonov is attempting to raise the money himself by selling souvenir mugs, t-shirts, clocks, coasters, and baseball caps reading "Desire for Life."

The doctor believes modern medicine has the appropriate tools to transplant a head onto a donor body and will use a fine blade to cleanly sever Spiridonov's head from his broken body.

It will then be attached to the body of a bread-dead, but otherwise healthy, donor body being kept alive by artificial means.

Dr. Canavero claims a "magical ingredient" - polyethylene glycol - will be used to fuse the two ends of the spinal cord together much like a super super glue might.

Spiridonov, attached to his new body, will then be placed in a medically induced coma for four months to keep muscles from moving while the head and body muscles, nerves, veins and spinal cord heal together.

Upon waking, Dr. Canavero believes Spiridonov should be able to move, feel his face and speak with his same voice.

To keep Spiridonov's head from rejecting the body, powerful immunosuppressants will be used but should work.

Unsurprisingly, most critics claim the doctor's plans are "pure fantasy" but should the operation prove successful, the medical implications could change the world.

The surgery is set for 2017 and Dr. Canavero will be releasing more details in September.

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