Well, now I think I've heard everything!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3029376/Russian-volunteer-head-t...
EXCLUSIVE: Revealed, the terminally ill man set to be first to undergo the world's first full HEAD transplant pioneered by doctor branded 'nuts'
- Valery Spiridonov says he is ready to put his trust in Dr Sergio Canavero
- 30-year-old computer scientist was born with Werdnig-Hoffman disease
- Genetic muscle-wasting disorder has left him seriously disabled since birth
- New body of city of Vladimir native would be taken from braindead donor
- But 2016 target for operation is 'pure fantasy', say Dr Canavero's critics
A man with a fatal medical condition has spoken exclusively to MailOnline about how he is set to become the first person to undergo a head transplant and hopes it could be as soon as next year.
Valery Spiridonov says he is ready to put his trust in controversial surgeon Dr Sergio Canavero who claims he can cut off his head and attach it to a healthy body.
Mr Spiridonov, 30, a computer scientist from Russia, said: 'My decision is final and I do not plan to change my mind.'
As a lifelong sufferer of the rare genetic Werdnig-Hoffman muscle wasting disease, he says he wants the chance of a new body before he dies.
Hope: Valery Spiridonov wants to be the first person to undergo a head transplant so he can have a shot at having a healthy body having suffered from the Werdnig-Hoffman muscle wasting disease.
'Am I afraid? Yes, of course I am. But it is not just very scary, but also very interesting,' said Mr Spiridonov from his home in Vladimir, a city 120 miles east of Moscow.
'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.'
Dr Canavero and Mr Spiridonov have talked via Skype though they have not met yet and the doctor has not reviewed his medical records.
The Italian told CNN he has received many email and letters from people seeking the procedure but he insists the first patients will be people suffering from a muscle wasting disease.
Dr Canavero has named the procedure HEAVEN, which is an acronym for head anastomosis venture. Anastomosis involves the surgical connecting of two parts.
He insists all the necessary techniques already exist to transplant a head onto a donor body.
The first monkey head transplant was performed 45 years ago and a basic operation on a mouse was carried out in China recently.
But critics say Dr Canavero's plans are 'pure fantasy'. The Italian has been compared to the fictional gothic-horror character Dr Frankenstein.
And Arthur Caplan, the director of medical ethics at New York University's Langone Medical Centre, has described Dr Canavero as 'nuts'.
Dr Hunt Batjer, president elect of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons, told CNN: 'I would not wish this on anyone. I would not allow anyone to do it to me as there are a lot of things worse than death.'
The cost of the 36-hour operation, which could only be performed in the one of the world's most advanced operating theatres, has been estimated at £7.5million.
The new body would come from a transplant donor who is brain dead but otherwise healthy.
Hey Noa, thanks for the heads up.
Hey when the figure out how to give me Pippa Middleton's behind I might get excited ! jk, to me this kind of thing is some scary shit we shouldn't be messing with but that's just imo.
This has been a long time quest for some people. A strange way to live forever,created by those who only believe in the physical. People so attached to their egos they will do anything to keep it. It seems to arise from the fear of death, or just loosing one's family and all the memories that we attain in a lifetime. I understand the feeling, but have never believed this is the answer. I do know that enormous amounts of money have been spent to figure it out by people like Mark hamilton, leader of the society of secrets. He believes it is the way to go, and I am sure he wasn't the only one funding it,but I don't know the names of the others involved. This world is so interesting, living in a time where experiments like this one come to fruition. In Hamilton's vision, they would do this over and over to live forever, placing the head on a young body at a certain age,,ha! Go for it dude!