Car crash victim, 26, who received face transplant from 47-year-old man reveals what he heard while in a coma

Daily Mail​

01-07-2025

A man who underwent the world's first face and double hand transplant has revealed what it was like being in a three-month coma after his major operation.
Joe DiMeo, 26, from New Jersey, suffered third degree burns across 80 per cent of his body when he crashed his Dodge Challenger in July 2018.
Over the following months, he endured 20 reconstructive plastic surgeries and skin grafts, before having the breakthrough transplants in August 2020, in a 24-hour operation.
Joe spoke about being in a coma to PEOPLE as part of its I Survived YouTube series.
In July 2023, Joe appeared on This Morning with his then-girlfriend (now wife) Jessica, where he spoke about the accident.
He said: 'I was clocked out [after his night shift] just driving home from work and fell asleep at the wheel.'
His car hit a curb, before flipping over multiple times, and catching alight.
According to Joe: 'I woke up three months later from a coma with third degree burns all over my body.'
Following the crash, he was unconscious, though he says he remembers being able to hear people in the hospital speaking around him. He says he also remembers having bad dreams while undergoing the initial burn treatment.
Discussing having the bandages removed from his wounds, Joe said he could feel the pain - although the staff are of course not trying to hurt the patients.
This, he revealed, led to dreams about being in pain.
Joe has been asked about if he ever had an experience with the afterlife: something he has shared a memory about.
He told PEOPLE: 'The only thing I experienced is me walking my dog. He passed away in 2012, 2013. I was like, "Oh, this is it. I'm assuming this is the afterlife, just me walking my dog down an endless hill".'
After spending more time in the burns unit, he returned to his parents' home, having previously said that after the accident, he was 'basically living on [his] parents couch', after having his fingers amputated.
Joe told PEOPLE: 'My mom did my laundry, cooked, cleaned, all that stuff, and I just laid on the couch with my dog. That just wasn't for me. 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.'
However, he added that if he had not endured the accident, he wouldn't have found his life partner Jessica. He noted that he would 'probably still be a cocky 26-year-old', adding that while he would prefer not to have sustained his serious burns, he 'likes his life now, just because I have Jessica around.'
The couple met after Jessica followed Joe on Instagram, and he sent her a DM after realising they both had Boston Terrier dogs.
Jessica came to meet Joe, and they became a long distance couple, with Jessica eventually moving from southern California to New York so they could be closer together.
This led to a love story so awesome, so life-enhancing that hundreds of thousands of people around the globe have been drawn to follow it.
Today the couple have more than 240,000 followers on their joint Instagram and about 255,000 on Facebook. Joe, meanwhile, has nearly 226,000 followers on TikTok and Jessica more than 370,000.
In November last year, the Daily Mail reported their joyous engagement when Joe went down on one knee outside a New York steak house.
Just months into their marriage, in March this year, the remarkable couple sat down to discuss the ups and downs of their relationship and their exciting plans for the future.
After enduring his life-changing injuries, Joe beat the odds and his world-first procedure and long road to recovery attracted international attention online and on social media.
Jessica heard about his ordeal and was among those rooting for him from afar, following him on Instagram. Then, in 2021 he messaged her on Instagram about her Boston Terrier, Kirkland.
He said he had been going through his followers and saw Jessica's cute little dog - the same breed as his own pet Buster.
In the midst of a grueling recovery and battling to regain his independence, Joe could never have foreseen the consequences of that simple DM.
'I was kind of just focused on myself after the surgery, and then Jessica came along,' Joe says, his love for her evident in his voice. 'Because when you're not looking for love it comes at you randomly and that's usually when it's true love. The right person takes time to find.'
'The first time he reached out to me, I was a little bit nervous to be honest,' Jessica admits. 'I got the feeling you get when you're like "huh, this is interesting''.'
After three weeks of easily-flowing text exchanges and Facetiming nearly every day, the spark between them was apparent. They decided to meet in person.
Jessica, who was working in Cleveland, planned to visit a nursing student friend in Philadelphia for a weekend. She and her terrier Kirkland then took a 90-minute drive to Joe's parents' house, where he was living.
'That was a little bit awkward, you know. At that point I was 30 and I'm driving to this guy's house and he's eight years younger than me,' Jessica says.
'The first thing I said to her was "you're a lot smaller in person,"' Joe recalls.
But her reservations faded as they enjoyed the sunny April afternoon together with their dogs playing in the backyard.
'We played pool, we got Italian food, we hung out with the dogs,' Joe says.
'We talked, we hugged, we kissed,' Jessica adds.
Jessica says she was hooked by Joe's confidence and thoughtfulness. He was impressed with her determined, generous and selfless character.
Before returning to Cleveland, Jessica visited Joe to say goodbye.
'It was really hard…..That kind of solidified my feelings for Joe. I remember the first time we hugged, I just felt so comfortable. I like people that are gentle, not demanding or pushy. I feel like some men can be that way.'
Joe had remembered Jessica's favorite chocolate - Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - and gave her some for her seven-hour drive home.
It had been a weekend that exceeded all her expectations and Jessica arrived home eager to tell her roommates about Joe - but she was met with skepticism.
'The [roommate] was like "that's pretty childlike that he would give you chocolate" and I was just thinking, "oh, you're such a b*tch!" [because] that was such a nice gesture,' she laughs. 'Not all men are thoughtful like that.'
Her family were onboard with her decision to see Joe romantically from the start.
'They were super-excited. My grandpa's always been into science. We would always watch autopsy videos together,' she says. 'So, when he found out about Joe, he couldn't stop talking about him. They really like Joe a lot.'
And Joe's family feels that same way about her.
Their love continued to grow and they began planning their lives together. Jessica got job in New York City and she and Joe moved into an apartment in New Jersey.
In October 2023, they bought a 'fixer-upper' house with a spacious backyard and settled in a quiet neighborhood in West Orange.
'I never thought I would own a home,' Joe reflects wonderingly – and it really is a home, filled with happy photos from their travels and sentimental knick-knacks, including a baseball they were gifted at a Mets game that Jess wrote 'J + J' on.
They joke about their neighbors not knowing their extraordinary story, saying some may think they are making 'naughty videos' when they see the camera crews who frequently visit to record the latest updates on Joe's progress.
With their house purchased, Joe started saving up for an engagement ring. He popped the question in front of the Peter Luger Steak House in NYC in September 2024.
A video posted online of the proposal, taken by Joe's mother, showed him getting down on one knee in front of a smiling Jessica.
In December 2024, Joe and Jessica flew to Hawaii - their favorite vacation spot - to tie the knot in an intimate ceremony at Magic Island, a stunning beach in Honolulu.
It was really an elopement, Joe explains laughing. 'It was just us two and then we streamed it online so all the family members [who live on different coasts] could watch it.'
Jessica's wedding ring was Joe's great-grandmother's - and it fit perfectly.
Returning to real life after the honeymoon hasn't been an issue for either of them.
'I don't think there are any challenges to being married…. for us nothing really changed,' Joe says. 'I'm just chilling.'
Jessica laughs and rolls her eyes. 'Nothing new there,' she quips.
Peter Luger has become one of the couple's favorite restaurants (pictured: Joe sitting in the restaurant on Valentine's Day)
The couple's garage has become a workshop for Joe's fashion company 80 Percent Gone
Joe and Jessica both concentrate on the positive and believe their mission is to spread joy by working to overcome adversity. And certainly, the majority of feedback on social media reinforces that.
'I've had a stomach, bowel and pancreas transplant and feel isolated because it's such a difficult conversation for people that I feel the need to keep it to myself,' one individual wrote in response to a video the couple posted on Instagram.
'Seeing what you're going through reinforces my understanding that we all have our battles and we deal with it day by day and that I should be grateful that I have the opportunity to hide my health, but you can't really.
'So, you're an incredibly brave and generous person to be sharing your journey with us all.'
An accolade that no doubt Joe believes Jessica is deserving of too.