A Russian man is scheduled to become the world’s first head transplant patient in a ground-breaking procedure set for December 2017.

Valery Spiridonov, 30, was diagnosed with a genetic muscle-wasting condition called Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, and volunteered for the procedure despite the risks involved, Fox News reports.

“When I realized that I could participate in something really big and important, I had no doubt left in my mind and started to work in this direction,” Spiridonov, a Russian computer scientist, told Central European News. “The only thing I feel is the sense of pleasant impatience, like I have been preparing for something important all my life and it is starting to happen.”

Sergio Canavero, M.D., an Italian neurosurgeon, will perform the procedure, which is expected to last up to 36 hours.

“According to Canavero’s calculations, if everything goes to plan, two years is the time frame needed to verify all scientific calculations and plan the procedure’s details,” Spiridonov told CEN.
“It isn’t a race. No doubt, the surgery will be done once the doctor and the experts are 99 percent sure of its success.”