Jeff Kepner became the first person in the United States to successfully have two hands transplanted. He can already move his fingers and grab a tennis ball, but what he really wants to do is feel his wife's touch. The doctors say that the nerves haven't yet grown back and it will take some time--about an inch a month. The surgery took place in May at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and took nine hours. Jeff lost his hands and feet a decade ago to a bacterial infection and didn't want the surgery at first, however his wife Valarie Kepner was persistent. She had contacted UPMC without telling her husband. She wanted him to be able to regain some of his independence after being on her schedule for years. Obviously, Jeff came around. Read more here.

Labels: family, health, real people