Seeing fingertips 'kind of cool'

PITTSBURGH --- Augustan Jeff Kepner isn't able to move his new hands or feel them yet; that will depend on how long it takes for his nerves to grow, a process that could take months. But his wife, Valarie, says she thinks he's excited about the results so far.

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Associated Press

"I think he's really excited," Augustan Valarie Kepner said of her husband, Jeff, who had a double hand transplant Monday.

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Jeff Kepner

"Just being able to look down and kind of see the fingertips, you know, which really is the only thing that's showing at this point, I think is really neat for him," Mrs. Kepner said in an interview Thursday at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "He kind of keeps looking down and looking at them. It's kind of cool."

Mr. Kepner, 57, lost his hands and feet a decade ago to sepsis that developed from a strep infection. On Monday, he became the first person to undergo a double hand transplant in the United States.

The surgery opens a world of possibilities, Mrs. Kepner said, and will allow him to do more things he could do in the past, such as cook.

She said the former pastry chef looks forward to playing with their 13-year-old daughter, Jordan, a student at John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School.

"He keeps teasing our choir director (at Burns Memorial United Methodist Church) that he wants to play a piano duet with her," Mrs. Kepner said. "Even if he could only play Chopsticks , she would be thrilled."

The Kepners flew to Pittsburgh on Sunday after the hands became available. According to the Center for Organ Recovery and Education, the donor was a 23-year-old Pennsylvania man and the father of a 1-year-old son.

"My heart just goes out to the family," Mrs. Kepner said. "They've been in our prayers that they've had this happen to them. We could never thank them enough."