DONEGAL TEENAGER Alan Doherty has flown back to the United States for more surgery in the long process of building him a new chin.
When he returns in about two months' time from the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, the 18-year-old will have a full chin.
Family friend Paul McBride said yesterday: "The process this time will involve re-shaping and de-bulking the chin and adding some dental implants."
Paul, who heads up a campaign that raised hundreds of thousands of euro to pay for Alan's surgery, added: "This time we expect people will see a major change when Alan returns."
Last March Alan underwent the longest operation in a series of procedures designed to build him a new chin.
He was on the operating table for almost 14½ hours - more than four hours longer than anticipated.
During the operation bone and marrow had to be transferred from two separate areas of his body.
Doctors told his parents at the time that the next operation - scheduled for June 18th - would give Alan the "perfect chin" that's been his life's dream.
Alan's medical treatment in the US has already cost €418,000.
He was born with a rare condition called otofacial syndrome. His parents, Danny and Bernie, were told at birth that he was unlikely to survive, but he did against massive odds. He had no chin and had to breathe through a tube in his throat.
He is one of just two people with the condition and he was the first person in the world to undergo a series of operations for a new chin.
Doctors agreed to carry out the surgery when Alan was brought into the Mount Sinai Medical Center for assessment while in the US in 2006 for an athletics event organised by the Physically Challenged Irish and American Youth Team.
Irish-American organiser Bill Broderick asked Alan if there was anything he wanted.
He replied: "A perfect chin." Within months friends in Ireland had established a fund-raising committee.