TRUE-LIFE
My boyfriend’s looks tell an incredible story
Jessica Koby, 33
Sat on my sofa, I couldn’t tear my eyes off the telly.
It was April 2021, and I’d switched on a documentary about a young lad called Joe DiMeo.
Back in 2018, Joe, then 19, nodded off driving home from a night shift.
He hit a kerb, his car flipped and exploded.
Passers-by pulled him from the flames.
But Joe had burns to 80% of his body and spent months in a coma.
How did he survive? I thought.
He’d had over 20 reconstructive surgeries, his fingers amputated.
Thick burn scars meant he could barely see, breathe, talk or eat.
He was dependent on his parents.
Yet there was hope… It meant a double face and hand transplant!
Which was also the reason I’d tuned in.
As a transplant nurse, I had experience with organ donation, but this was massive in comparison.
The documentary explained that double hand and face transplants had been attempted twice before.
Both failed.
And there was just 6% chance of Joe finding a donor. ‘A needle in a haystack,’ the surgeon explained.
My heart was in my mouth as Joe and his doctors told the story.
After pandemic delays, a match had been found!
In August 2020, Joe had the surgery at NYU Langone in Manhattan.
It took 16 surgeons and an operating staff of 80 a gruelling 23 hours. But it worked.
‘Incredible!’ I gasped.
As the credits rolled, I turned off the telly but I didn’t stop thinking about Joe.
I wonder how he’s recovering, I thought, opening Instagram.
Finding his account, I scrolled through his posts.
Was delighted to discover he had a Boston terrier – just like me!
My account was full of photos of me with my pooch, Kirkland.
I clicked ‘follow’ and tapped ‘like’ on a selfie he’d taken with his dog, Buster.
I liked a few more of him and Buster, plus one of Joe with his surgeon.
The following day, a message pinged. It was Joe!
I like your dog. I smiled.
I like your dog, too, I replied.
We chatted about our mutual love of Boston terriers, and I admitted that I’d looked him up after watching his doc.
I’m a transplant nurse, I explained.
Asked him how he was adapting to life with his new face and hands.
I think about my old face now and then, but this is me now, he wrote.
Joe was honest and friendly. He told me about his accident, how much his life had changed.
It’s a miracle I survived. This is life now and I’ll make the most of it, he said.
It’d been almost as much of a miracle that his body didn’t rej
