Rebekah Aversano’s brother was struck by a minivan and killed three years ago, when he was 21. Aversano’s Maryland family donated Joshua’s face to Richard Norris, who received a transplant in 2012 for the teeth, jaw, tongue muscles, and nerves after being severely disfigured in a years-old shooting accident, The Guardian reports. The risky procedure took the University of Maryland team 36 hours.

When Aversano met Norris, a 39-year-old from Virginia, she asked permission to stroke his face.