Joe DiMeo was only 18 years old when he got into a car accident that burned 80% of his body. He later underwent a surgery that gave him a face and hand transplant. DiMeo, who is now 26 years old, opened up about his excruciating experience and how it led to him meeting the love of his life.
DiMeo had finished working a night shift at his job in 2018 when he decided to drive home. The 18-year-old fell asleep driving his Dodge Challenger, which led to him getting into a near-fatal accident.
Joe survived the accident with 80% of his body burned as a consequence. He also slipped into a three-month coma and woke up months later. In People’s “I Survived” series on YouTube, DiMeo reveals the pain he suffered during his treatment and also the “bad dreams” that he had at the time.
“When they take you into the tank room — where they wash you off, take off all the bandages — that’s not fun,” he recalled. He went on to explain that even while unconscious, he could feel the pain. This, in turn, made him dream of pain as well. Joe recalls how painful the process of getting his bandages removed was.
He also notes how people always ask him if he has had an experience with the afterlife through his ordeal. “The only thing I experienced is me walking my dog. He passed away in 2012, 2013,” he reveals. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is it. I’m assuming this is the afterlife, just me walking my dog down an endless hill,” Joe adds.
After spending months getting treated in the burn unit, Joe was moved to a rehab facility. A key moment of his recovery journey came when he met Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez in 2019. The NYU Langone doctor considered performing a face and hand transplant on Joe.
This is Joe DiMeo a fourth degree burn survivor whom he is also the 1st person to have a double hand and face transplant after loosing his both arms
Hope one day in SA we will reach such pic.twitter.com/FIEFPvDPdH
— MissT 🇿🇦 The Invincible 🤍🌻 (@Misst_Thembs) May 20, 2025
DiMeo was also told about the risks of the major surgery. Two patients who had undergone the surgery had lost their lives. Joe reveals how one of those individuals died on the operating table. “But going into any surgery, you can die, so that didn’t bother me at all,” he revealed.
NYU Langone later revealed that 140 medical staff members contributed to the surgery. The surgery that gave Joe the hands and face of a 47-year-old donor went on for 23 hours.
Soon after the transplant, Joe met a woman named Jessica who would go on to become his wife. Jessica, who was in nursing school, had heard about DiMeo from her professor. She was familiar with Joe’s surgery from the documentary she had seen about it.
“I remember looking at the picture of him, before and after, and thinking, ‘Dang, that sucks. He was a handsome guy.’ But that’s all I thought,” she notes in the YouTube series.
After Receiving Face of 47-Year-Old Donor During Transplant, Man 22, Falls in Love with Nurse.
At 18 years old, Joe DiMeo was in a life-altering car crash that left him with burns on 80 percent of his body.
In 2020, he became the first person to receive a face and double hand… pic.twitter.com/SFEc0ZOo3m— Waltersview (@valour_1) February 11, 2025
The couple initially interacted on Instagram in 2021. They fell in love and started seeing each other in a long-distance relationship. They moved in together in a house in New Jersey a while later. The two got married in December 2024 by eloping to Hawaii.
Joe notes how it “sucks” to have another person’s hands and face on him. “But then I also found my life partner, and if I wouldn’t have had the accident, I’d probably still be a cocky 26-year-old,” he adds. DiMeo concludes while acknowledging that he likes his life, given that he gets to spend it with his wife, Jesicca.
