Face Transplant Recipient Meets Wife of Donor: 'It Has Finally Given Me Closure'

Two people who have never met before share an incredible bond.

Andy Sandness, 32, is the recipient of a new face and Lilly Ross’ deceased husband, Rudy, was the donor.

“I don't know if you can ever say enough thanks for what they've given me,” Sandness told Inside Edition. 

Lilly and Rudy Ross were high school sweethearts but last year, he took his own life. She agreed to donate his face for a transplant.

Sandness survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but it destroyed his once good-looking face. 

The surgery to attach the new face took 60 hours and involved 50 doctors and nurses at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic.

"You couldn't ask for a better outcome," he told Inside Edition. 

Recently Lilly and Sandness met for the first time and she got to touch the face that once belonged to her husband. 

"It has finally given me closure," she said. 

It is a medical miracle as a man gets used to his new face and a woman sees her husband's image come alive again.