The man who is preparing to have the world's first head transplant has claimed that the prospect does not worry him, and that "we are making science." 

Valery Spiridonov met the Sergio Canavero, the doctor who will be carrying out the transplant, for the first time on Friday at the meeting of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons. 

The Italian neurosurgeon wants to transplant Russian Spiridonov's head onto a different body by 2017 and believed that his patient will have a 90% chance of survival. 

Spirodonov, 30, has a muscle wasting disease Werdnig-Hoffman. "If it goes good, I think I will get rid of the limits which I have today and I will be more independent and this will much improve my life," Spiridonov said. 

Canavero said he expected wheelchair-bound Spiridonov to be walking within a year of receiving his new body . Revealing his plans, Canavero said Spirodonov's head will be cooled before being cut off and reattached in stages. Fusing the spinal cord back together will be, he said, the biggest challenge, which has never been achieved before. 

The procedure will take about 36 hours and call for a team of 100 medical workers. Afterwards, if he survives the operation, Spiridonov will spend three to four weeks in an artificial coma. The Indepe