A disabled man with a fatal muscle-wasting disease is set to become the first person to undergo a head transplant and hopes it could be as soon as next year. Computer scientist Valery Spiridonov, from Vladimir, Russia, hopes that controversial Italian surgeon Dr Sergio Canavero can cut off his head and attach it to a healthy donor body. 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.

“My decision is final and I do not plan to change my mind. Am I afraid? Yes, of course I am. But it is not just very scary, but also very interesting. But you have to understand that I don’t really have many choices. If I don’t try this chance my fate will be very sad. With every year my state is getting worse. I can hardly control my body now. I need help every day, every minute. I am now 30 years old, although people rarely live to more than 20 with this disease…”

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