Oct 9, 2009 10:59 am US/Eastern
Donor's Loved One: My Brother's Hands Live On
PITTSBURGH (CBS) ―
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Jeff Keen, 23, died last May. His hands were given to Jeff Kepner who became the first person to have a double hand transplant.
KDKA
Celebrating the spark of life, Michelangelo knew a thing or two about the human hand with its 29 major and minor bones, 123 ligaments, 34 muscles moving fingers and thumb, 48 nerves and 30 arteries.
Jeff Kepner lost both his hands and feet to a virulent strep infection a decade ago.
After nine hours of surgery, Jeff became the first double hand transplant in the country.
"I can move my hand and fingers. It's long and it's tedious and they work me like a dog. Considering that, everything's going well," he said.
Jeff returned to his family in Augusta, Georgia last week.
It is because of 23-year-old Jeff Keen that Kepner can hug his daughter now and may someday squeeze his wife Valerie's hand.
"At 16 he decided to be an organ donor," Daniel Rossi-Keen said, remembering his youngest brother. "For me, for my family, there's really one word that we've continued to come back to, to make sense of this entire journey and it's a story of redemption."
One of four brothers in a tight-knit family, Jeff Keen loved the outdoors, growing up in central Pennsylvania and was a passionate Steelers fan.
He died accidentally last May 1st. His son Payton was just a year old.
It was the staff from CORE, the Center For Organ Recovery and Education, that helped the Keen family to do what they believed was the right thing.
CORE Procurement Coordinator Greg Moorhead was one of them.
"I can kind of distinctly remember your mom saying, 'There's a purpose for this happening,' and this is it," he said.
"It's a gift for the families of those who are left holding on to the memory of someone who is no longer with them," Daniel said.
The Keen and Kepner families have yet to meet.
"I've not shaken Jeff Kepner's hand yet," Daniel said. "I will one day."
Jeff Keen's life was far too short but his gift means that Jeff Kepner's quality of life may be enhanced for many years to come.
"My brother's hands - though he's no longer with us - they live on and that is a profound mystery to me," Daniel said.
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