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The First American With a Double Hand Transplant Wants Them Removed

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D

Dalek

Member
‘I Can Do Absolutely Nothing.’ The First American With a Double Hand Transplant Wants Them Removed

jeff-kepner.jpg
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In medicine, someone always has to be first. Seven years ago, that person was Jeff Kepner, now 64, who became the first person to receive a double hand transplant in the United States.

The milestone made headlines: “A Touching Tale of a Life Changed,” read one from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. But Kepner’s transplanted hands have never worked, and today they remain completely non-functional. If he could, Kepner says he would have them removed, he tells TIME in an exclusive interview.

“From day one I have never been able to use my hands,” he says. “I can do absolutely nothing. I sit in my chair all day and wear my TV out.”

Kepner is one of many Americans who have undergone experimental transplant surgeries that do not save their lives, like a heart, but stand to greatly improve them. In the last few years, doctors have performed groundbreaking face transplants and the first uterus and penis transplants stateside. But Kepner’s story highlights the sacrifice that can come from taking a risk for a better life—and for scientific advancement.
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In 1999, Kepner, of Augusta, Ga., lost his hands due to sepsis that started from a strep throat infection. He used prosthetics, and while life wasn’t easy, he was able to drive and keep a job—things that are impossible for him today.

Ten years after the infection, Kepner underwent a nine-hour surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to attach hands from a donor. Kepner knew there was a risk that his body could reject the hands or that the surgery wouldn’t be successful, but he had always assumed, and says he was told, that in a worst-case scenario he could have the new hands removed and go back to using prosthetics. He’s since learned that that option isn’t so simple.
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Dr. Vijay Gorantla, the administrative medical director of the Pittsburgh Reconstructive Transplant Program at UPMC, is overseeing Kepner and tells TIME that full or partial removal of the hands has been discussed, but the procedures are not without risks. According to Gorantla, it’s uncertain if Kepner would be able to use prosthetics if the hands were removed, and that rigorous physical therapy would be required.

If the hands were to be only partially amputated, Kepner would need to stay on daily drugs that prevent his body from rejecting the hands, wrote Gorantla in an email, adding that: “We believe that additional, minor surgical procedures—and commitment to more physical therapy—could improve the function of his hands to help him with activities of daily living.”
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The surgeon who led the transplant in 2009, Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, is currently at Johns Hopkins where he’s preparing to perform penis transplants for American veterans. Lee says the need for removal is uncommon and has occurred in six out of 100 similar transplants in the U.S. and Europe.

“Mr. Kepner’s transplanted hands do not function as well as those of other hand transplant recipients,” said Lee in an email to TIME. “Our team has performed bilateral hand/arm transplants in four patients to date, including Mr. Kepner. The other three patients have had significant functional return in their hands and have been able to resume completely independent living, including driving, working, and going to school.”
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Kepner says he hasn’t heard from Lee or any of the surgeons involved in the initial operation in years.

He says his diminished quality of life has taken a toll. With prosthetics, Kepner says he was 75% functional, but today he says he feels “0%” functional. His wife, Valarie, retired in May to take care of him full-time, and the Kepner family launched a GoFundMe page to cover costs they’ve incurred through the years. .
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E

echoshifting

Banned
Very sad story. Must be crushing to watch prosthetic hand technology get better and better while you're stuck at a dead end. There's no easy way out of this for this guy, and I feel for him.
 
obin_gam

obin_gam

Member
If I didn't have limbs I would totally get the robot like prosthetics instead. They look fucking awesome and you can crush things with them.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
I don't understand why you would pass up the opportunity to get hook hands in that situation. Hook hands are the shit.
 
D

Dalek

Member
Tom_Cody said:
This situation reminds me of the stuntwoman who was seriously injured working on the most recent resident evil film. Her arm was 100% paralyzed so she opted to have it amputated in order to improve her quality of life.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment...after-horror-onset-crash-20151223-gludxf.html
https://www.instagram.com/olivia_stunts/
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There's a caller on the Stern Show named Jeff the Drunk who paralyzed his arm in a car crash like over 30 years ago-it's just a useless dead arm, literal dead weight, and he doesn't want to remove it.
 
B

Betty

Banned
A guy in the UK just the other day got a double hand transplant and talked about looking forward to using his hands again.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Shamrock7r said:
Does anyone know the most successful story of a hand transplant?
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Dunno, but the article mentions:

“Mr. Kepner’s transplanted hands do not function as well as those of other hand transplant recipients,” said Lee in an email to TIME. “Our team has performed bilateral hand/arm transplants in four patients to date, including Mr. Kepner. The other three patients have had significant functional return in their hands and have been able to resume completely independent living, including driving, working, and going to school.”
Click to expand...
 
M

Memory

Member
That sucks, would prosthetics have been better? I know they don't work for everyone so he might be stuck eitherway.
 
B

BajiBoxer

Banned
I'm not sure I understand why he can't have them amputated again. What makes it different than any other amputation? The article explaination didn't make a lot of sense to me.
 
S

Social

Member
my dad had his middle finger re-attached after a work accident at age 65. His finger is there, not as straight and he can't do much with it. He's also been talking about getting it removed as it's only in the way for him.
 
S

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
Holy fuck this thread. lmao

I can't even hand le it.
 
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