Please help Joseph Roy DiMeo

Joseph DiMeo was driving home from a night shift in July 2018 when he fell asleep at the wheel. The car hit a curb and utility pole, flipped over, and erupted into flames. 

A good Samaritan pulled over, leapt across a traffic median, and yanked Joseph to safety. Joseph had third-degree burns on about 80% of his body, an injury most people don't survive. He had no lips or eyelids, and his fingertips were useless. 

Joseph was in a medically induced coma for more than two and half months after his accident, and remained in the burn unit of Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, for more than four months.   

He underwent about 20 reconstructive surgeries, and had his fingertips amputated. There was nothing else doctors could do with conventional surgeries to give him a better quality of life, so he was referred to Dr. Rodriguez at NYU Langone, the only hospital in New York State and only one of a handful in the country with a dedicated program for face transplantation. 

After being approved for the operation in October 2019, Joseph needed a donor. Due to the complex procedures he'd already endured, there was only about a 6% chance of finding a perfect match, so the search was expanded nationwide. 

Finally a match was found! On August 12th 2020, Dr. Rodriguez and his surgical team of 16 and operating room team of 80 completed the groundbreaking 23 hour surgery. The six teams simultaneously operated in two rooms, one for the donor and another for the recipient. Joseph DiMeo became the first person in the world to successfully undergo a double face and hand transplant. 

Joseph spent 57 days in inpatient rehab before moving to outpatient care, putting in five hours a day of hand therapy, occupational therapy, face therapy, and physical therapy.  Joseph will take immunosuppressant medications for the rest of his life to prevent his body rejecting the transplants, and continues to undergo rehab.

Four months post-transplant surgery, Joseph is able to dress, feed himself, throw a ball to his dog Buster, use light free weights and machines, and is practicing his golf swing.