If you saw Patrick Hardison walking down the street, you probably wouldn't give him a second glance. That's a big change from his life just over a year ago.

Back in 2001, when he was working as a firefighter, Hardison received horrific burns that severely deformed his face. Strangers would stare, and children would react with fear, he says. But that all changed in August 2015 when Hardison received the most extensive face transplant ever done. Now, a year after the transplant, the 42-year-old Mississippi native is able to live a more normal life than he ever thought possible. That could mean greater success for others with injuries similar to Hardison's down the line.

"I guess you all want to know how I"m doing. Well I'm happy to tell you I'm doing great. I like to tell people I'm the same old Pat," Hardison said Wednesday in a press conference at NYU Langone Medical Center, where the procedure was conducted last August.