Seven years ago, Jeff Kepner underwent the first double hand transplant in the US. It was a risky but exciting surgical feat that offered the possibility of getting the patient most of his normal life back—the life that was taken away in 1999 when sepsis from a strep throat infection led to the amputation of both hands.

But the excitement and possibilities gave way to a grim existence, worse than when he was simply managing with prosthetics, Kepner said.