Man who got first double hand transplant in America wants it removed as he can't do anything

Just yesterday, we reported the story of the UK's first double hand transplant recipient and he confirmed that his hands were working well. 

We hope it lasts for him because the first person to receive the same treatment in America, is asking to get it removed seven years after.

In 1999, Jeff Kepner lost his hands due to sepsis that started from a strep throat infection. Seven years ago, that person was Jeff Kepner, now 64, who became the first person to receive a double hand experimental transplant surgery in the United States.

He used prosthetics but it was quite tough. 

Ten years after the infection, Kepner underwent a urgery 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 but going back to prothetics is easier said than done.

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 says that after seven years, he’s tired of surgeries, and will likely keep the non-functioning hands attached to his body. “I am not going through all those operations again,” he says.

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 told TIME the need for removal is uncommon and has occurred in six out of 100 similar transplants in the U.S. and Europe.

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. .

Kepner says that in hindsight he would not do the surgery again, but he does not criticize the doctors who did the operation. “That’s the chance you take,” he says, “and that’s the chance I took.”

Source TIME