America's first double hand transplant patient now wants hands removed

Jeff Kepner, 64, lost both of his hands in 1999 due to sepsis evolving from a strep throat infection. Ten years later, he became the first person in the United States to have a double hand transplant — what was supposed to be an inspiring, life-changing operation. Now, though, he says he wants those hands removed.

"From day one, I have never been able to use my hands," Kepner told Time after living with the non-functioning hands for seven years. "I can do absolutely nothing. I sit in my chair all day and wear my TV out." Kepner said before the transplant, he was 75 percent functional using his prosthetics; since the experimental surgery to attach new hands, though, he says he's 0 percent functional.

"Complex surgery such as hand transplant do not produce uniform results in everyone, but we have been encouraged by the functional return in the great majority of our recipients whose lives have been transformed by the procedure," Kepner's lead surgeon, Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, told Time.

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Kepner might be stuck with his nonfunctioning hands, too — removing them doesn't guarantee he could easily go back to using prosthetics, and comes with many medical complications. Besides, Kepner has had enough time under the knife. "I am not going through all those operations again," he said. Read more about the high hopes for Kepner, and the reality of his life now, at Time.