These Hands are Not My Own, but They Seem to be Working

Man Receives First Double Hand Transplant in US

By Morgan Dickerson

In May 2009, Jeff Kepner was the first person to receive a double hand transplant in the United States, after losing both his hands ten years ago from a bacterial infection. Kepner’s lead surgeon was Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, who led a team of ten surgeons to successfully complete the transplant. The surgery was projected to take approximately 20 hours, but was finished in less than nine hours. 

Since Kepner’s double hand transplant, he has continued to have a successful recovery. According to Kepner’s doctors, nerves grow somewhere around one inch every month. Kepner does not have feeling in his fingers yet, according to his mother Doris Schafer. To help Kepner re-learn how to pick up items and use his hands he is playing catch and only picking up small items.

Kepner’s ‘cheese’ was moved a decade ago when he lost his hands and his feet, and this has put through a tough time. Jordan Kepner, 13, is Jeff’s daughter who recalls good and bad memories of when her dad got sick. Jordan gets sad when she knows her dad will be gone for a long period for either surgery or rehab, but she looks forward to doing normal stuff with her dad that has been on hold. Losing any appendage to one’s body could only be devastating, at first. But, this story exemplifies how some choose to find new ‘cheese’ and move forward in life. Kepner not only moved on to find ‘new cheese’ but he set out to find ‘better cheese’. Kepner took on the role of Scurry in our assigned book, “Who Moved My Cheese?” Being Scurry, Kepner dealt with his life-changing loss and continued to live and find other options, which were real human hands.

Kepner is not the only person in this world who has experienced this type of tragic loss, but he is the first and only person in the United States to ever receive a double hand transplant.  Kepner appeared on NBC’s, Today Show, to let all of America see how the surgery has changed his life for the better. Kepner demonstrated that he can bounce and pick up a tiny bouncing ball and slightly move his fingers. Kepner’s story and other stories like his show how individuals who experience tragedy are determined to live life fully and happily by finding newer and better ‘cheese’ for themselves; even though there are those who are too scared to move forward and rebuild their lives.

Image Information: Courtesy of Fox News. Jeff Kepner with Therapist Kim Maguire.

Web Source: Fox News.