"or we're both going to die." they described exactly what happened with the accident, and then, i wasjust in shock. he was burned over 75% of his body. he was almost unrecognisable. 68—year—old robert chelsea is the first african american| and the oldest person to receive a full face i transplant surgery. feeling all right? that's good. what we didn't really realise is what we were up against. facial transplantation has a lot of risks. squeeze. relax. he's notjust going to have this procedure and everything's

just going to be smooth sailing. it's good that african—american patients that suffer from major facial deformities are aware that there is an option for them.

i got a phone call and he says, "oh, we have your dad".

we just all got in the car and we rushed over there, so... they described exactly what happened with the accident, and then, i was just in shock. yeah. one thing i like about my dad is his love for the lord. i can really lean on that.

the role of faith means everything to my godfather. we were thrilled and our prayers had been answered when he woke up. but what we didn't really realise is what we were up against. he was burned over 75% of his body, mostly upper body. he had lost his lips, a part of his nose, a part of his ear. he was almost unrecognisable. my godfather has since been through upwards to 40 surgeries. if it were me or somebody else, we would dwell on whether or not we were going to survive, or dwell on how we looked. you know, he's the type of person that's always going to ask you how you're doing, even when he's sitting in pain. we then had to wait almost two years before we received a donor.

we then had to wait

almost two years before we received a donor. he said, "we're not going to accept the donor." and i was like, "what? wait, skrrt! "let's talk about this." it was quite significant when you think about, you know, how he was going to look afterwards. there's a serious lack of donors in the black community and minority communities, as it relates to the need.

my godfather had to be prepared, packed, and ready to fly to boston from los angeles the next morning. you had this whole accident,

and then now, all of a sudden, you have a whole facial transplant, and go through a whole �*nother situation. i'm like, "why are you doing it?" how's my friend? hey there. you're hanging in there, you're doing good? - good to see you, too. you look good. yeah. feeling all right? i realise he's doing it for health purposes. now i'm like, "oh, 0k. "i kind of see the benefits of it." i'm so happy for you!

yeah, that's right! the fundamental principle of all transplantation- is that we recover organ —j in our case, it's the face — then we package it and cool it down, so that it doesn't - require as much energy when it doesn't have blood flow. - and we literally bring it - to robert, whose old scarred face is partially removed. some of the things . that are left behind — remaining structure - of the nose, for example, remnants of lips that he had. and then, the new face is essentially brought l and gradually connected — the nerves, the vessels, i the arteries, everything. i'm doing good. i'll be better in - about 15 hours, but... could be 24, so i don't know. yeah. so many logistical things that we'll have to figure out. - they laugh thank you. not going anywhere! so, what we will do is we'll probably be able to get - the scalp somewhere all the way up here, maybe even a little -

bit back, but just about there. in this case, the donor was in another state, i so it required flyingi to recover and back. the deciding factor —| how far we can travel and where the donor can be - from — is the time that we have between when the blood flow through the tissue stops - to the time when it's re—established. - facial transplantation has... ..a lot of risks. the ideal scenario is - that we come with the donor face, and robert would be - on the or table with everything ready to go. so all the vessels would be prepared, all the nerves i would be prepared. all the structures i are essentially ready to be connected. welcome. we all know about disparitiesj in health and health delivery,

and it's good that _ african—american patients that suffer from major facial deformities are aware i that there is - an option for them. he came out and, believe it or not, he was already moving. there were already facial expressions. i really do see the same person. now, what looks really different is he has hair. it actually is funny- because the next day, you see the hair growing. doesn't matter that it'si on someone else, itjust continues to do the things that it does. j it's probably one of the most amazing experiences i've ever seen.

i saw the picture, but to see him first time was, like, shocking, overwhelmed, and ijust started crying. and then, i had to ease myself into it. it's like, you can close your eyes and say, "oh, my dad looks like this, that's great. "and his accident was like this, "and it made him look like this." and as soon as you open your eyes, you're like, where is your dad? he's a different man. like, that man, like, i don't know, like,

i would have been like, "hey, how are you"? like, make a regular conversation with him, like i don't even know him. how are you, robert? your temperature is still a little bit high. it's not too high, but it's like a low—grade temperature your temperature is still a little bit high. it's not too high, but it's like a low—grade temperature

- it's 99.0. that's a lot for one day, too, right? yeah. yeah, yeah. one day at a time, robert. all types of things are going on with this. he's a science experiment. and then, all of a sudden, you're wondering, "what is really wrong with you? "is this face really worth it?" ebony hasjust been amazing. both of her parents are ill, both are elderly, and she moves from one house to the other, splitting her week. having parents that are ill and being the only child is hard.

but you have to know inside your heart, you are willing to sacrifice some of your life. they sacrificed for you. are you willing to sacrifice for them?

i met robert through his tragic car accident, where i pulled him from the car. ironically, that particular night, i was finishing a job, and i left particularly early that day. i took a different route than i usually took, and as i was coming over the off—ramp, i literally thought a missile came across the freeway. so, i pulled forward, pulled where i saw the explosion and the fire, pulled up to it, and ran to the first vehicle. i noticed that it was fully engulfed in flames, and i couldn't see anything inside, so i ran to the other vehicle that was in front of it. saw the driver passed out, drunk, window was broken, but i could smell the alcohol, and he was snoring. so, i'm like, "he's ok". so, i went back to the other vehicle, then that's when i saw robert chelsea on fire, flailing around, screaming. i did pull him out, he fell on top of me. he said, "what happened?" i said, "a vehicle hit you." he goes...

robert's... this is one of the things that remains in my mind. robert's first words to me were, "how's the other driver? "is he 0k?" and i said, "yes, sir, he's fine." and i tried to get him to move, and he screamed, because his skin was completely melted. i said, "we need to leave now, or we're both going to die." then, as soon as we got to my truck, his fuel tank exploded. the vehicle popped up in the air, about 16ft in the air. there was actually marks on the top of the freeway wall from his tyres. pretty traumatic for robert. robert, do you want to say grace? i have been blessed to have been introduced to robert. robert and i have become very, very, very close friends. when do you have to go back to boston?

did it help? good. i've explained this to you before, but... ..yourfaith gives me tremendous strength.

yeah, you had hair. yeah, it was receding, but you had hair. uh-huh. right. it was joyful. i was very happy, and i... i just saw the people around. and it was just finally, you know, iaccomplished getting my high school diploma. even though i got it late, i still succeeded. you can never be too old to

finish getting your diploma. even today, a year later, easing in is still a little process for me, but i'm getting much better than i was before. robert's transplant surgery was over a year ago, - and due to the coronavirus restrictions on travel, - we postponed his in—person visits for now a number - of months. a year out, i think. robert's doing great. he's progressing well- from the transplant standpoint.

ithink, for him, the biggest issue is adjustment of his i daily life to the new routine. the overarching problem that we're trying to - avoid is rejection. every patient - develops a rejection. the body essentially is trying to get rid of tissues that it i recognises at a given time as foreign. - yeah, we need to open up the eyes a bit, huh? - look at that — that would be better, wouldn't it? - so, there are things— we could do surgically to make things better, - but we don't have to. everything kind of sagged down by gravity, and by the fact - that the new face is not as strongly connected l to the bone. and i would have to open upj the entire incision all around — so all the way around your head, all the way down - to the neck — and then, - i would have to lift things up and suspend them. this is completely elective, l so it doesn't have to happen

next month or tomorrow. the nerves are reconnected, but your brain is learning - which ones are supposedj to be controlled by what. the nerves are reconnected, but your brain is learning - which ones are supposedj to be controlled by what. and trying to differentiate movements, with help . of our speech- therapist, will help. you will still be getting better. | there's another year- that we know our patients are getting fairly. dramatically better. and then, at about two| years from the surgery, that's where it plateaus. yeah. robert is a unique man. he's very spiritual, thoughtful. - he really believes - in god's plan for him. yeah.

we'll keep chatting. all right?

hello there. thursday brought us a real mixture of weather across the uk. it was scotland and, to a degree, the far north of england that had the best of the day's weather, with plenty of sunshine. and very warm in the highlands, temperatures reached 25 celsius in altnaharra — that was the warmest place in the whole of the uk, confirmation of the rather beautiful weather we had here. wasn't like that everywhere, though. for northern ireland, england and wales, we had rain or some thundery showers around, and across berkshire and also pembrokeshire, we had photographs sent to us of some funnel clouds there — tornadoes that don't quite make it all the way down to the ground. it was very wet for some. in nantwich in cheshire, we had 25 millimetres of rain. now on into friday's forecast,

the tail end of the weather front will continue to feed in quite a lot of cloud across northern england, and we start off certainly with some mist and fog patches around some of our north sea coast. aside from northern england, though, i suspect overall, we're looking at a brighter day on friday with more in the way of sunshine. there will, though, be one or two showers popping up into the afternoon, one or two thunderstorms, but big gaps between those showers — that means probably for most of you, we're looking at a dry day with temperatures widely high teens to the low 20s. it will feel warm in the sunshine, highest temperatures, probably west scotland, where i think we'll probably get to 2a — outside chance of a 25. on into the weekend, we've got a low pressure system threatening some heavier bursts of rain across southeast england, certainly more cloud around here as we head into the morning. otherwise, again, we're looking at a few mist and fog patches — clearing and lifting away, sunny spells, breaking through, and then, into the afternoon, one or two showers and thunderstorms popping up. temperatures still on the warm side — we're looking at highs well into the teens, 23—24 celsius in the very warmest areas. given the light winds and the may sunshine,

that will feel very pleasant. for sunday, though, there is a slight change in the weather picture across scotland and northern ireland, in that there'll be a bit more in the way of cloud pushing in here — it could be thick enough to give us an odd patch of rain. england and wales mainly dry with some sunshine, but you will notice the temperatures just dropping a little bit across scotland and northern ireland, given that cloudier weather. now beyond that, into next week, looks like the start of the week should be ok — many of us will have drier weather with sunny spells — but there's a tendency for the cloud to thicken, with rain arriving towards the second half of the week.

live from washington, this is bbc news. south africa is calling on the un top court to stop israel's offensive in rafah. another staff in the biden administration quits over the

presidential support of israel. we will speak to her about why she resigned. president putin given a red carpet welcome during his state visit to china. great to have you with us. we start with the battle at the un's top court. the international court ofjustice has been asked to consider whether israel is committing genocide. against palestinians in gaza. south africa is calling for an order to immediately halt israel's operation in southern gaza. israel claims that the court is being exploited by south africa. on thursday, south africa's legal team said israel had intended from the very beginning to destroy palestinian life, but the israeli foreign ministry said south africa presented biased and false claims that relied on hamas sources. in a statement, they said: it is calling on the un's top court to reject it.