Transcripts For WPVI 2020 20170826

Luke sky walker got a robotic arm in star wars, but would it work in real life. . Tonight we are showing you in realtime. Dr. Will i be able to play piano after the sushlgry . The triumphant strugg. Of a man who wouldnt give up. Thank you for saving my husbands life. Thank you so much. Thank you everyone. Good evening. Im david muir. Elizabeth is off tonight. You just saw that iconic moment, rocky pumping his fists in the air, but what if he didnt have them . Tonight, a reality tv producer whose life suddenly turned into a real episode of survivor, a medical mystery becoming a medical miracle frame by frame. Heres abcs juju chang. Reporter if clean living needed a poster child, it could easily be Jonathan Koch. I dont drink. I dont smoke. Ive never done drugs. Ive never had a beer. I dont drink coffee, not because im against those things, theyre just not for me. 55. Reporter and the only thing tighter than his top spin grip nice backhand. Reporter is the bond he shares with his teenage daughter ariana, his date for 14 straight father daughter dances. You get into high school and those dances become very real because you know, you know youre you only have a couple of them left. Reporter the rest of his life is consumed by work. A modern day hollywood mogul. Hey. How are you . What do you love about your job . My job is an opportunity every second of the day does anybody know whats going on in italy right now . Cofounder of asylum entertainment, a Production Company he and his partner recently sold for over a 1 hundred million dollars. Theyve done dozens of hit tv shows youve undoubtedly seen. From sports to reality tv. Im fat. Reporter and even scripted dramas like the kennedys, starring katie holmes. And were not just name dropping. All his highflying hollywood friends adore him, like the creator of the show 24, joel surnow. We all feel the same way jonathan. This guy is a treasure. This guy is a unique person. Reporter and the multiplatinum singer, songwriter jewel. Hes a special person, youre lucky if hes your friend. Theres a hell of a journey and a story that he just went through that is unlike anything i can ever imagine. Reporter with all he had going for him reporter its hard to imagine that jewels song hands a haunting ballad about overcoming adversity could be considered his lifes anthem. I never broken reporter just two years ago, the master hollywood storyteller had no idea he was about to play the unwitting lead in his own reality survivor show. If someone pitched you the story of your life, would you buy it . No because i dont know the end. Reporter he may not know the end, but the beginning is vivid. January 26th, 2015. What were your first signs that something was amiss . I was getting ready to go on a business trip to washington, d. C. Reporter hes headed to a reality tv convention. When reality throws him a curve, this six foot one, 225 pound tower of health is suddenly inexplicably ill. Jonathan is not a guy who typically gets sick. Reporter his longtime girlfriend, jennifer. He is always healthy, hes always working out. Reporter but waking up that morning, out of the blue, hes so weak and feeling so awful. He tells jennifer to take him to the hospital. I felt like i had been hit by a truck. I laid down completely flat on the floor and i said, i can not do it, i literally cant move. Thats not something he would normally say, so immediately it set off alarms for me. Reporter at first, the reallife iron man tries writing it off. So when youre heading to the er, how concerned are you . I just thought i need to go to the hospital and they need to check my oil and get me out of there. I just didnt really think too much of it. Reporter the couple wondered maybe its something he ate . Doctors thought it could be the flu. So at that point i kind of relaxed a little bit and thought, ok, ive never really had it like this, but okay. You decided well, its a good idea to get on a crosscountry flight . Well, i did ask. And they said, youre you seem okay to us. I dont think anythings wrong. Reporter he rests in first class on the five hour flight. And hopes a good nights sleep at the washington d. C. Hotel will do the trick. The next morning, he powers on to the realscreen summit where some of the biggest tv deals are made. His team has been prepping all year, but he barely lasts one meeting. I was walking through the convention floor, and i was about to fall down and i started seeing, you know, three and four of everybody in the room, and i thought, this is not going well. Reporter he stumbles out of the Convention Hall and into a cab, to George Washington university hospital. Theres no doubt that he looked like a sickly patient, he looked very ill. Reporter doctor lynn abell says jonathan walked into the er feverish, his heart racing, his Blood Pressure low. It was the end of january, the flu, viral illnesses were the common things that were seeing in the emergency room. Reporter er doctors begin standard care. Blood tests, urine cultures. They give him i. V. Fluids and antibiotics. Even hooked up to all those lines, jonathan keeps his sense of humor, sending this selfie to colleagues with the caption conference not going great. When did you first get word that things were going south . Were texting and he you know, hes sending me photos or whatever of himself and hes starting to look a little bloated in the face. He was saying ill be fine. I just have pneumonia. Ill be fine. Its fine. Reporter but suddenly, doctors arent so sure. He did not progress in the way everyone thought. What they were doing was not working. Reporter his white blood cell count starts to plummet, a sign the bodys immune system is malfunctioning. And his feet . Freezing cold to the touch. It wasnt obvious what was causing his cold feet. Reporter doctor Michael Seneff says jonathans circulation was abnormal, as was something else, though they were pumping liter after liter of i. V. Fluids into his body, jonathan is pleading for something to drink. Were giving him a lot of fluids, its not having as much effect as we want because he has leaky capillaries its going out into his tissues. Reporter doctors are dumbfounded. Nothing is working. As di day turns into night, jonathans condition is so grave, they move him to intensive care. The concern level was very high at that point. Whatever hes got is aggressive, and its progressing at an alarming rate. He was scared out of his mind. Why . Why is this happening . Is exactly what hes saying to me. And i cant completely explain it. He was like, can i die tonight . And i was i had to be honest. She said to me, youre probably going die tonight, and you should text your loved ones. Reporter how do you say goodbye through a text . For at least one person he loved, that seemed unimaginable. You decided not to text your daughter cause you just didnt want to have that be her last message from you. Nothing good could come from eit. But that moment, when i decided not to, was really the moment that i decided that i just cant die. I cant i cant do it. She shouldnt grow up without her daddy. Reporter when we come back, how does the model of Perfect Health turn into a medical mystery, putting him at deaths door in less than 24 hours . And the dramatic video diaries that capture every harrowing moment. I would just give him one more kiss or one more hug or stay with us. When kids are coming into my classroom they know that. Mr. Jackson is the rapping teacher we call it the remainder thats number that remains. Technology is a huge piece of education. Using the pen for the first time on the windows 10 pc is great. Im able to highlight different rhyme schemes, i can actually. See my lines when im shading in, i can change the. Weight drawing directly on my screen. I couldnt do this on my mac. I can definitely see the future. Happening, i mean i feel like the skys the limit. Buy one take one is back starat olive garden. Come in for a fan favorite like smoked mozzarella chicken here and leave with a great meal too. Buy one take one. Hurry in, its only for a limited time. At olive garden. Here at persil, the Top Notch Team of stain experts has performed over 10,000 stain evaluations to prove persil delivers a premium clean. Weve made a new stain with wasabi and goji berries. Make that 10,001. Persil pro clean. This is just so surreal, like a horrible, horrible, horrible nightmare. Reporter Jennifer Gunkel couldnt have felt more helpless or farther away from her boyfriend, Jonathan Koch. Shes home in l. A. While hes across the country in washington, d. C. In intensive care, clinging to life with only a 10 of survival. The doctors were saying, you need to call your loved ones now. Reporter like jonathan, she too was in show business, doing social media shows like like greys anatomy. She starts recording, in real time, nearly every moment of this heartrending, longdistance ordeal. Im just really scared. Reporter overnight, shed received an ominous text to call him. He said that, things are really serious. This is more serious than i thought. And i said, im getting on a plane right now. Reporter back at George Washington university hospital, jonathans i. C. U. Doctor, lynn abell, is baffled by her patients mystifying illness. His heart, his lungs, his kidneys, his liver, his circulation all were failing. Reporter agitated, and now wracked with pain throughout his body, doctors fear jonathan is in full septic shock. Things get so dire, doctors resort to putting in a breathing tube. But first, doctors have to sedate him, him, putting him into what is essentially a medically induced coma. He just begged to have us try to hold off, until his fiance arrived. He was on his near last breath. I wish i could have talked to him. I wish i would have gotten here sooner. Please give me one more kiss or one more hug. Reporter as agonizing hours turn into days, there were still no answers and jennifer, his medical proxy has to okay every medical test, every procedure, knowing those decisions could affect his daughter too. Yeah, i just kept thinking about his daughter and just like she cant be without her dad and so i was thinking every moment every decision i made was like this little girl. I cant let this girl lose her father. Reporter but its the pictures that tell the story. And jennifer is there documenting every moment, capturing the before, not even sure there will be an after. By his second day in the i. C. U. , a terrible sign his limbs are turning black. Gangrene is setting in, because his vital organs are literally stealing the blood from his arms and legs to survive. His fingers are blue and his feet are blue. [ crying ] reporter then, as things are at their most desperate, doctors propose something that, to jennifer, is unthinkable. They also talked about amputating your fingers and toes. I asked them why. Lisa, his sister, and i, we just turned and looked at each other and we were like, what . Did he just say amputation . And we were shocked. I just thought i will just never make that decision for him. Reporter if anyone knew what kind of fighter jonathan could be, it was his sister, lisa. After all, their survival story began long before this. I always felt like we were a team, the two of us going through it. Reporter a team with her brother. Growing up in the pennsylvania town of state college, home of penn state. Raised by a loving mother, but a father who jonathan says had no use for him. My father had a very domineering, almost sadistic way about him. Reporter take the time when jonathan was about four, and he says his father showed him how to tie his shoes just once, then banished him to the basement. And he said, go downstairs and dont come up until theyre tied. And it took me a long time. Probably, i dont know, 10 or 12 hours. I could hear my mom crying out the door. Reporter but jonathan says there is one gift he credits his dad with giving him. He took jonathan to a drivein when he was 11. A transformational movie, called rocky. Rocky really changed my life. Reporter it might seem cliche to come, but not if youre a downtrodden kid from the keystone state, whod come to l. A. With dreams of stardom, only to end up a hollywood heavy weight. You took rocky as gospel. It is the gospel. What are the lessons . Well, first of all, he didnt win. Rocky didnt win. But to me, he accomplished what he set out to accomplish which he wanted to last the entire fight. To me, that was everything. Reporter but did jonathan have enough fight in him to beat whatever Mysterious Illness had breached that otherwise healthy body . Finally, after two and a half days in the i. C. U. , dr. Seneff says its one of the young doctors, a resident making rounds, that has an ahha moment. The more detective work we did, the more likely it seemed that this really was the diagnosis. Reporter a lymph node biopsy confirms it. The appropriate term, i think, is hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Reporter also known as hlh, a rare and aggressive immune disorder that neither of jonathans doctors had ever confronted. It is basically your immune system in overdrive. And theres some trigger, often times viral, but its mostly seen in pediatrics. Reporter they immediately reverse course on treatment. What they had been doing was making things worse. They start chemotherapy along with large doses of steroids, to kill the toxins. And over the short course of time, over just a few days, he started making a quick recovery of his organ systems. You opened your eyes three times today which was amazing. I saw the light in your eyes, your beautiful blue eyes. Honey, squeeze your hand again. Reporter like the prize fighter he idolized, jonathan survived the fight of his life. But the damage was done. Gangrene had literally starved his limbs to death. At a minimum, his left hand would need amputation. When you emerge from that coma, whats the first thing that you think . The first thing i thought was that i wanted to marry jennifer. And yet before that, you werent planning on getting married . No. What changed . All of a sudden it was just about us. Reporter when we return, they saved his life, with you couldnt save his limbs. I didnt understand how this could happen when i lived my life the way that i did and all the exercise. Reporter but little did he know there was yet another hollywood twist in store. What does the miracle on the hudson have to do with this medical miracle . Stay with us. sighing okay. thunder rolling thanks for coming all this way to get me. No worries. Do you have everything . Uh, yeah, i think so. vo treating others like wed like to be treated. Lets get you checked in. Thanks. vo . Has always been our guiding principle. Howd we rethink light yogurt . Kicked out artificial sweeteners, added real fruit, and made it 90 calories. New light and fit greek nonfat yogurt with zero artificial sweeteners. Youll go from mmm to wow. Year with the new sleep number 360 smart bed. It senses and automatically adjusts on both sides. The new 360 smart bed is part of our biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale. And right now save 50 on the labor Day Limited Edition bed, plus free home delivery. Ends saturday we dont just want to watch games cable gives us. We want all the teams, no matter where we live with directv nfl sunday ticket. We want falcons in new york. 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Be there for americas toughest and help, when help is needed americas 1 isnt a status earned overnight. Its earned in every wash, and reearned every day. Tide, americas 1 detergent reporter back home in los angeles, theres little relief for the recovering, beleaguered hollywood executive. It feels like someone is holding a bic lighter under my fingertips all day every day. Reporter his hands in this video, so diseased from gangrene, weve concealed it. Hes spent more than 85 days in two different hospitals. His four bloodstarved limbs are all but dead. As bad as it looks, it feels even worse. How did you get through all that pain . Ive prepared my whole life to push myself past, you know, the norms, past what i think i need to do. You didnt look in a mirror for months . I chose not to look in the mirror because i could tell by the reaction of people around me it wasnt going great. Reporter hes stuck in a wheelchair, 40 pounds lighter, a sickly shadow of his former self. With virtually no use of his hands and feet, jonathans well of optimism fills with doubt. When did the term transplant enter your vocabulary . I actually can remember right where i was. I was standing in the hall. The attending that was on just said, i think they are doing hand transplants now. You should google that. You should check it out. Reporter and she does. Jennifer learns one of the worlds leading hand transplant pioneers, dr. Kodi azari is just 20 miles away from their home at ucla. The hand is probably the most remarkable id say instrument that ive ever seen. Reporter as surgical director of uclas hand transplant department, dr. Azaris passion often inspires him to wax poetic about his favorite appendage. If there is any evidence of divine intervention, it would it would be the human hand. This same hand can break bricks. It can also have the precision to be a concert pianist. Reporter which is why trying to replace has been so imperfect. Reporter from a hook like this one, to even a state of the art prosthetic, dr. Azari says there was room for improvement, but it would take just the right patient. When i first saw jonathan he was he was actually incredibly frail. He hadnt showered for months because he had open wounds. Reporter but azari had a plan a new innovative procedure, a type he had never attempted before where the amputation of the hand is placed closer to the wrist than the elbow. The arm is then prepped specifically to receive a new hand. Each and every nerve, tendon, vein and artery is extended and bound together. The arm is then sutured closed until its later reopened and attached to a donor hand. The benefits more functionality and range of motion. A much better quality of life for jonathan. He was dependent on his wife for every single aspect of his daily existence. You know, personal hygiene in those situations is not personal anymore. Reporter azari wonders could jonathan be the one for his dream procedure . He had plenty of doubts. It takes a lot of effort to rehabilitate the hand, and you want somebody to put in that effort. Otherwise it could have been a waste. Reporter jonathan, brimming with optimism, had no doubts. I was like, oh my god. This guy is our guy. Like lets do this. Do you have any hands here we can choose from or can we just get one right now before we leave, or how is this going to work . And he was like just chill. Reporter azari laid out a blunt series of challenges before he would agree to be his surgeon. For starters, hed have to regain his strength and rebuild that once brawny body. Trainer scott zeller played coach mickey to jonathans inner rocky. I learned to trust scott very quickly. He understood not to baby me. Wed do a set of something, and then hed fall asleep on the table. I had 270 milligrams of morphine coursing through my body every day. I kind of have to shake him awake to get him back on again. And then wed do another set of something and then hed fall asleep. Getting ready for the hand transplant was literally the fight of my life. Reporter his mind perhaps more battle ready than his body, but within only two months of training, dr. Azari thinks jonathan is ready for the next challenge. Itll sound strange to say it, but i wanted them to cut my original hand off. It was horrible. It was hurting me, and its dead and its very hard to live as along as i did with dead limbs. Reporter in the summer of 2015 the process begins, dr. Azari amputates jonathans totally useless left hand, and just the fingers on his partiallyfunctioning right. But while hes emotionally divorcing himself from parts of his own body, jonathan makes good on the promise hed made, waking from his coma. He and jennifer are married in their backyard, in a ceremony so simple there isnt even a cake. It was so simple and perfect. It was 38 seconds in the backyard with four people, and we laid down and got something to eat, like we always do. Yeah, we had honey nut cheerios. Reporter but next came perhaps the biggest and most costly of dr. Azaris challenges before jonathan could get a new hand, the cruelest kind of exchange azari tells jonathan theres something he cant fix. He would have to lose his leg. Well i said, jonathan, i cant do your transplant until youve had your amputations of your legs, and youre up and moving around with your prosthetics. Reporter why . So he would be steady on his feet so not to stumble and injure his new hand. So the very next day after getting married, back to the hospital for the amputation of his right leg. We had our honeymoon in the hospital. It was lovely. It was. Reporter there was reason to be hopeful. So many highprofile success stories. Oscar pistorius breaking records on that blade. A double amputee nearly taking home the mirror ball on dancing with the stars. Youd think an optimist like jonathan would be prepared, but it seems nothing prepares you for the moment when youre staring down at an expanse of bed sheet where your leg used to be. It took me by surprise that i was so emotional about having my leg amputated. When we left the hospital and i was getting into jennifers car and i realized that i didnt have a right leg below, you know, i was shocked. Reporter so upset that jennifer was forced to pull off the road. And then i just burst into tears, which was the first time during this entire thing that that had happened, and you know, after that we came home, and we got to work. Oh my god reporter undeterred with even fewer limbs, but now fitted with a prosthetic leg the moment of truth on the first day he got his prosthetic, he got up and walked, and ive never, ever, ever seen that before. What was that moment like when he learned to walk . I was overwhelmed with joy. He hadnt walked in 11 months. Yeah, we trained really hard, but i was so happy. Reporter all the while, jennifers video camera trained on some unsteady strides, and surprisingly few stumbles. That old swagger back intact. I was incredibly impressed by the speed of his rehab. I didnt think there could be somebody that was this Eternal Optimist that would work so hard. Doesnt smoke, doesnt drink, eats well. I didnt think that person exists, and yet, theres jonathan. Reporter and with that, dr. Azari finally gives the green light to place jonathan on the donor recipient list for a hand, and when we come back the call comes. I was like, this isnt happening. This isnt happening. Is jonathans going to get another mans hand. Reporter the hand is on its way, packed in ice, in a cooler like this one. But it cant survive long without blood. Well, we all know about the notorious la traffic. And an unforeseen visitor causes an unexpected delay. A critical race against time, next. Its time for a getaway. 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Reported side effects include vomiting and itching. Nexgard. The vets 1 choice. Having a baby. Caring for your parents. Learning you have a condition. These are moments when people realize that where you get your medicine matters. And they look to us. Cvs pharmacy. For advice. And ways to save money. Plus, get up to fifty extrabucks each year just for filling prescriptions. Switching is easy. Were here for you. Join us. At cvs pharmacy. Reporter look carefully. Youre watching Jonathan Koch bench press using the stump of his left wrist. Remarkably, pushing past the familiar, everpresent pain. Come on. Reporter this unwavering drive good job. Reporter is about to pay off with a new hand. If i wasnt ready, then what dr. Azari did and all of his genius would have gone potentially, you know, to waste, and so that wasnt okay. Reporter but dr. Kodi azari had to be ready too. He trained 18 years for this moment, and not unlike jonathan, he too had a Silver Screen hero. Sully, the movie about the hero pilot chesley sullenbergers miraculous plane landing on the hudson. Azari says he watched it repeatedly, taken by the striking similarities between their two professions. Were expected to do the operations perfectly every single time. Yet, the human body throws curveballs our way, and when that happens, youve got to have the composure to do whats right, to do whats best, and you have to make judgments at very critical times. And lives can often be on the line. And lives. The movie really resonated with me. In many ways sullys like a hero to you. I think hes a hero to many people. Reporters and like pilots in a simulator, azari and his team gathered multiple times to practice jonathans operation in a surgical anatomy lab. The search for a donor is not easy. The hand is different. Its an external organ. So you need to match for size. You need to match for color. You need to match for hair pattern. Imagine my hairy hands on you, juju. I dont think you would accept this as yours. That would be a little off. Reporter after a 7 month wait, last october, jonathan and jennifer get the call. The one they hope will change their lives. I still dont believe it. I was like, this isnt happening. This isnt happening. And then, finally, you know, we get in the car and we go. And so youre driving to the hospital. Whats going through your mind . Well, first of all, obama was in town. So that wasnt great. Reporter 9 30 a. M. , the Surgical Team is at Ucla Medical Center waiting on jonathan and jennifer, but they didnt bank on this. President obama will be fundraising in l. A. , once again. And that means traffic delays as you head to work. And so its l. A. Traffic. Yeah. Youre stuck in gridlock . Yes. Reporter theyre relying on a g. P. S. , but on a day like this, its more like o. M. G. We decided to follow waze, but, of course, everybody in l. A. Follows waze. So we were on these back roads with all these stop signs with literally as much traffic as there was on the freeway. So we were 45 minutes late to my own hand transplant. Reporter meanwhile the donor is on life support at another Southern California hospital. Azari and his Procurement Team are there to meet the dying mans family. And i actually got to meet the dononors brother and i goto meet the donors pastor, and to me that was an incredibly emotional time because i can truly sense their loss. Jonathan got an organ from somebody that was truly an incredible person. Reporter 2 58 p. M. Azari texts jennifer. All is going well. We have left the donor hospital en route to ucla, but timing is now critical. Traffic delays from the president s motorcade could be catastrophic. Dr. Azari has a helicopter on standby. The organ or the hand for this instance is not getting blood supply so over time its deteriorating. So theres a ticking clock. Reporter a ticking clock on what will already be a marathon, almost 18 hour surgery, but today, in the city of angels, an angel just might be watching over them. And do you get stuck in traffic . How do you get back . There was no traffic. Imagine that, coming back to ucla there was very little traffic. How are you feeling about your hand transplant surgery . Very peaceful and hopeful that everything goes well. Jonathan had no concerns going into the surgery, but i did. I mean, this is an 18hour surgery. This is a big deal. I actually told dr. Azari, i said, you take care of my husband. You better take care of him. Dont lose him . Yeah. You bring my husband back to me. Reporter 3 57 p. M. Azari joins his team of 13 surgeons, 4 anesthesiologist and 8 nurses from competing Southern California hospitals now in the o. R. For one of the first of its kind hand transplants. Before now, it was the stuff of science fiction. Luke skywalker got one in star wars. But this procedure, if it works will be groundbreaking. A complex surgery that would allow jonathan to recover with greater coordination and more sensation than in previous hand transplants. You volunteered to be a guinea pig, essentially. I did volunteer to be a guinea pig, and its really my job to make sure that i have the best chance to succeed so that other people can have the same opportunity moving forward. Reporter but the possibilities for complications are inevitable. Theres always the fear that maybe rejection will set in or some other complication might set in. Thats right. Initial fears are that the vessels are going to clot and blood is not going to move through the hand. Reporter 4 15 p. M. Two Surgical Teams work simultaneously, side by side, every tendon, artery, nerve is tagged and labeled. Kind of like stereo wires waiting to be reconnected. Theres no margin for error. Nerves are like coaxial cables, except theres no red to red, green to green, yellow to yellow connection. You have to figure out how they fit within each other so that the parts of the nerve that are for sensation match up and the parts of the nerve that are for motor function match up. And so one wrong move and it can affect the way his hand moves . The way his hand moves. The way his hand feels. Reporter 100 reporter the new hand is now attached. Tourniquets and clamps removed. Did it work . The Surgical Team holds its breath. And what was that moment like when you saw the pulse return to his wrist . When you see this dead hand, its cold, its white, and its not moving, and once you connect the vessels, including arteries and the nerves, then you see it start to swell up with blood. Its like a new life. Its magical. Reporter 9 07 a. M. The next morning the operation is over. Jonathan wakes with one pressing question for dr. Azari. I asked dr. Azari, did you do it . And he said yes, and then i started to sing the rocky theme. Reporter coming up, would jonathans new hand function as dr. Azari hoped . Were going to try to move your thumb tip. Reporter would he be able to feel the touch of his wifes hand in his again . The day after jonathans surgery is jennifers birthday. There was only one gift she wanted. Thats amazing. Reporter stay with us. Allergies with nasal congestion . Find fast relief behind the counter with claritind. Strut past that aisle for the steroid free allergy relief that starts working in as little as 30 minutes. And contains the best oral decongestant. Live claritin clear with claritind. Getwith the cricketown unlimited 2 plan. Less, two lines of unlimited data for 80 mo. Plus, get 2 smartphones free, when you switch. All on a network that covers over 99 of americans. Cricket wireless. Something to smile about. Having a baby. Caring for your parents. Learning you have a condition. These are moments when people realize that where you get your medicine matters. And they look to us. Cvs pharmacy. For advice. And ways to save money. Plus, get up to fifty extrabucks each year just for filling prescriptions. Switching is easy. Were here for you. Join us. At cvs pharmacy. Reporter 21 arduous months after Jonathan Koch first felt sick, a moment that would have been inconceivable at the start he awakes from surgery with a newly transplanted left hand. I was told that an hour after surgery you were moving fingers. It was jennifers birthday when i got out of surgery, and she said, i just want one thing. I just want you to move one of your fingers. Or i think you said move your thumb. I think i can move it. Thats amazing and i didnt think there was any chance that i could. But i thought about it, and it moved. What a birthday present yes. It was the best birthday present. Then all of the sudden this guy comes on. And thats where it began. Every hour, something would come back. Doc, will i be able to play the piano after the surgery . It was incredible. Reporter a new hand, yes. But what kind of new life lies ahead . Remember, he also lost fingers on his right hand, and a leg to that insidious disease. Its in my heart that if you, you know, you set your mind to something and youre willing to get through the pain, anything is possible. Thank you. Boom thats awesome. About one week in hes gripping a tennis ball and throwing it. What . Reporter from the opening serve, his doctor says, it was advantage koch. Unbelievable. So, better than expected . Better than expected. Next thing you know hes hes got this little video that he shows me where he picks up a glass of water and he takes a drink. And he goes, ahh. Jonathan has met, or in the vast majority of cases, exceeded all of my expectations. The classic one was, i told him jonathan, its gonna take you maybe a year and a half to two years before you can tie your shoelaces. At two months he sends me a video of him tying his shoelaces reporter that moment loaded with symbolism for the man whod told us he first learned to tie his shoes in that basement under the duress of his dad. You dont have a lot of patience for this. No its because you said i you know, my doctors are telling me im a year ahead of schedule but i dont feel like im a year. Well, i dont cause im just doing whats in front of me. Reporter for months now, hes put more in front of himself than many would. Now you have full extension. Remember you didnt in the beginning . That was the most difficult one. Reporter at ucla, an exacting rehab regimen to build up the hand itself. And at the gym. Dude, good job. Theres constantly something new on the horizon that were trying to accomplish. Reporter an exhausting workout schedule to restore his whole body. Ten, one, come on. Seeing him do new things after his hand transplant, quite a few of them brought tears to my eyes. Ready, go. Reporter but maybe the greatest reward of all, doing anything with his daughter ariana. Ill get you next time. How cool is it to be able to work out with ariana again . Oh, i love it. You know, doing those things now with her are just extraordinary. Reporter like in february, a milestone that seemed implausible. They attend arianas last high school fatherdaughter dance. You made it to a father daughter dance again. I did. Fatherdaughter dances are amazing, and ariana was incredible. She took care of me the whole night. Okay, lets do this. Reporter but i got to share a pretty special thrill with him too. Perfect. A rally on his beloved tennis courts. Yes hows it feel . It feels good, i just cant really feel my grip that well yet. Reporter as if playing tennis alone isnt amazing enough, the natural righty had to learn to do it left handed. Yes yeah, im not great. But i am working on it. And im having a blast relearning tennis. Good job. Youre amazing. Reporter its not without issues, his heart and lungs are not at the levels they once were. And like any transplant recipient, there is a lifelong looming possibility of e rejection. Curiously, jonathan says hes lost a lot of his taste for food, and he overheats a lot. So he carries a fan, even during our interview. Im just going to cool down one second. Yeah, sure. Reporter but wherever jonathan goes, he is a living breathing inspiration. I feel very much that im, you know, the test pilot for this. You know, that my hand is my hand but its really all of ours. Reporter and speaking of pilots, remember the one whod inspired the whole world with his heroism . I have a little surprise for you reporter well we asked. Am i about to be pranked . Reporter and he agreed. Come on in. Reporter to pay dr. Azari a surprise visit. Good afternoon cool. Dr. Azari. Reporter captain sully. Evacuate reporter the highflying hero who makes a downtoearth cameo in our Little Hollywood movie. I cant tell you how many times ive cried watching that movie. That was an incredible day for america. I think at a time when we all needed it. It gave us all hope. Oh, my goodness. Jonathan, how are you . Good, how are you . Jennifer, its a pleasure to meet you. Pleasure to meet you. Its pretty remarkable isnt it . It is amazing its been an incredible experience. As something happens almost every day that changes it. Its amazing how complex the human body is. Shake . Thats lovely. It is. Reporter when we come back you how does one learn to play guitar with a transplanted hand . A lesson, first hand from jewel. Stay with us. And then the people go inside. Do you understand charlie . Mom . Yeah . Can i have a Peanut Butter sandwich . Yeah, you sure can. Can charlie have one, too . Charlie can have one too. And one for charlie. gasp look mom charlie took a bite. with full mouth unbelievable. Feed his imagination, with the fresh roasted peanut taste he loves. 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My hands are small i know but theyre not yours they are my own reporter when jewel wrote her topten hit hands, she didnt even know Jonathan Koch. And i am never broken reporter but now the song is almost a soundtrack for his life. Nobody gets through life without pain. Not one of us. Were all going deal with heartbreak, death, trauma. And so i really wrote that song about not being a victim. About taking your happiness in your own hands. Reporter and with that new left hand, his first stab at playing guitar, part music lesson, part life lesson. Wow. This feels really good. Wow. I really like being you just learned a chord, dude. Thank you everyone. Reporter Jonathan Koch, the man who made a fortune telling other peoples stories, now telling his own, as inspiration. None of this is ever going to happen to you, youre never going face it, but things are going to, and good things and bad things and i just would like you to be ready, and some day when youre feeling challenged, that you look back at this and youll say to yourself, you know what, i can push through this. I can do more than i thought i could. It has already helped, you know, a lot of people, and that means everything to me. Reporter but on this day, he takes us back to where it all began. The last time jonathan and jennifer went through this door, they were heading out to an uncertain future. Now theyre heading back in. Oh, my gosh wow. Hey [ applause ] reporter cherishing the chance to say thank you to those same doctors and nurses at George Washington university hospital. They may never know what triggered his medical mystery. Im so happy for you. Thank you. Welcome back reporter but seem just as thrilled as he is that they solved it. Jennifer thank you for saving my husbands life thank you so much just for everything. You may be wondering about that anonymous donor. We can tell you he saved two lives in addition to jonathans with his lungs, liver and left hand. His family says they do look forward to meeting jonathan at some point in the future. If you want to know more about organ donation, go to our website. Im david muir. For elizabeth and all of us at 20 20, thank you for watching. Good night. Coming up on action news, category four Hurricane Harvey about to make landfall in texas and an inferno destroys a delaware apartment building. Those stories are next. Action news, delaware valleys leading news program, with jim gardner. You are looking at a picture of Hurricane Harvey