Man, 26, Who Received Face of 47-Year-Old Donor, Reveals What He Heard During His 3-Month Coma (Exclusive)
Immediately after the accident, Joe was in a three-month coma. In a video for PEOPLE's new 'I Survived' series, he recalls feeling the pain of early burn treatment and having bad dreams while unconscious
After his transplant in 2020, Joe met his now-wife, Jessica. She first learned about Joe before they met, when she was studying to become a nurseIn 2018, Joe DiMeo was involved in a car accident that burned 80 percent of his body, changing the trajectory of his life in an instant. However, his resulting medical journey spanned years, beginning with the three months he spent in a coma.
Joe, now 26, explains all that led to his historic face and double hand transplant in 2020 in PEOPLE's "I Survived" YouTube series. Though he was unconscious in the immediate aftermath of the crash, the New Jersey resident does remember being able to hear people around him in the hospital. He can also recall the "bad dreams" that accompanied the pain of his earliest burn treatment.
"When they take you into the tank room — where they wash you off, take off all the bandages — that's not fun. You can feel the pain. So you're dreaming about pain," he says in the newly released video. 'They're not meaning to torture you, they're just taking off the bandages, but it still hurts.'
He was 18 years old at the time of the accident, which occurred early in the morning, just after Joe worked a night shift at his job. He fell asleep at the wheel of his Dodge Challenger and woke up months later in a burn unit.
People often ask Joe if he experienced an encounter with the afterlife, and he can describe a memory that resembles the concept.
"The only thing I experienced is me walking my dog. He passed away in 2012, 2013," he tells PEOPLE. "I was like, 'Oh, this is it. I'm assuming this is the afterlife, just me walking my dog down an endless hill.''
After a couple more weeks in the burn unit, he moved to a burn rehab facility. Then he returned to his parents' home, where he longed for a sense of independence. Speaking to PEOPLE in February 2025, he remembers feeling like a "20-year-old baby again."
"My mom did my laundry, cooked, cleaned, all that stuff, and I just laid on the couch with my dog," said Joe. "That just wasn't for me."
In 2019, he met NYU Langone's Dr. Eduardo D. Rodriguez, who deemed Joe a good candidate for a face and double hand transplant. They knew it was a risky operation from the start; it was unsuccessfully attempted on two previous patients.
"The first one passed away on the table, and the second one the hands failed," Joe explains in PEOPLE's "I Survived" segment. "But going into any surgery, you can die, so that didn't bother me at all."
According to a press release issued by NYU Langone, more than 140 medical personnel were involved in the surgery, which took 23 hours to complete. Both his hands and face came from a 47-year-old donor.
"It's not a perfect surgery, and I was making it a perfect surgery in the beginning. But then I realized, you know what, let me be real," Joe says, reflecting on his recovery.
Not long after his surgery, Joe met a woman who would later become his wife. Jessica DiMeo heard about him from one of her professors in nursing school, and she watched a documentary made about his transplant.
"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 tells PEOPLE.
They connected on Instagram in 2021, when Joe sent Jessica an Instagram message. At first they were involved in a long-distance relationship, but they eventually found themselves in the same place and moved into a home in New Jersey together.
The couple — who eloped in Hawaii in December 2024 — regularly deal with judgment from others, especially as they've shared their story with millions of viewers on TikTok and Instagram. But Joe leads with an especially positive outlook, knowing that the worst part of his life led to the best.
"It sucks I got into the accident. I lost 80 percent of my skin, and I have someone else's face and hands on me," he tells PEOPLE in his video interview. "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. I would prefer not to be burned, but I like my life now, just because I have Jessica around."
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