Computer programmer Valery Spiridonov will fly to New York to meet neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero for the first time this week.
He hit out at people who claimed the operation was an elaborate hoax and insisted Canavero was "not playing games with the concepts of life and health".
Spiridonov suffers from a muscle-wasting condition called Werdnig-Hoffman disease and has spent much of his life in a wheelchair.
"I am not rushing to go under the surgeon's knife, I am not shouting - come and save me here and now," he told Mail Online.
"Yes, I do have a disease which often leads to death, but my first role in this project is not that of a patient.
"First of all, I am a scientist, I am an engineer, and I am keen to persuade people - medical professionals - that such operation is necessary.
"I am not going crazy here and rushing to cut off my head, believe me.
"The surgery will take place only when all believe that the success is 99 per cent possible."
Critics doubt the surgery will be a success, because the technique is so far unproven.
President elect of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons Dr Hunt Batjer said: "I would not wish this on anyone.
"I would not allow anyone to do it to me as there are a lot of things worse than death."
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