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But the 57-year-old former Lancaster resident also showed off his two new hands, which he received in May in Pittsburgh during the nation's first double hand transplant.
The former McCaskey High School student and retired noncommissioned Air Force officer visited here before he finally returns to his Augusta, Ga., home at the end of this week, following four months of recovery and rehabilitation in Pittsburgh.
He's a happy man.
"Oh, he looks good," said his mother, Doris Schafer, 82, of Manheim Township.
She said her son has perked up considerably since his surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She last saw him in June, about a month after he got the transplants.
"He was sort of, oh, down, and a little grumpy," she says of that first visit. "Now he's not. He laughs and smiles. It's a big, big difference."
In a strange way, the double transplant was a bit of setback for Kepner, who had lost part of both of his arms and legs in 1999. Doctors amputated the limbs in a bid to save his life after Kepner came down with a strep infection that plunged him into a coma.
After the amputations, Kepner was outfitted with prosthetic hands and feet and forged on with his life.
"He had gotten quite used to his hooks," his mother says of her son's artificial arms. "He could dress himself. He could drive his car. He could do a lot of things."
Kepner worked at a Borders bookstore and helped to care for his daughter, Jordon, who is now 14.
But after the double hand transplant, Kepner had to start over again.
He had a few setbacks, such as some soreness in his one leg where surgeons took a skin graft for the transplants.
Now in therapy, he is learning how to pick up small items, like cotton balls, and catch a ball, but he still has no feeling in his fingers. The nerves grow about an inch a month from where the hands were attached, at the forearm.
"They told him it will be at least until the end of the year before those nerves get down into those fingers," Doris Schafer said. "Then he'll begin to do things."
Kepner likes to cook and used to have dinner on the table when his wife got home from work. He's looking forward to doing that again, his mother said.
During his visit to Lancaster last weekend, Kepner had his hands in something that resembled a splint, which kept his fingers straight so they didn't curl up.
He visited with his father and stepmother, Ellsworth and Pat Kepner; his mother and her husband, Robert Schafer; and his brothers, James and Dan, and their families.
Kepner's wife, Valarie, helped him do everyday activities, Doris Schafer said. But he did exercise his hands.
"He was supposed to move his fingers, and he was wiggling them," his mother said. "His arms are still puffy but they are way down from the way they were."
Doctors have said the puffiness in his forearms is from fluid, most of which eventually will be absorbed by his body.
His doctors are pleased that he has had no rejection, due to a special treatment that included an infusion of the donor's bone marrow cells.
And they are happy that Kepner has lost about 50 pounds since the surgery.
Kepner has been doing about six hours of therapy a day as an outpatient in Pittsburgh. He will continue the therapy in Augusta, his mom said.
Kepner and his wife are anxious to return home to their daughter, who has been cared for by her maternal grandparents.
His wife will go back to work and the couple hopes to resume their family activities, including returning to their church, which has been supportive of them throughout the transplant and its aftermath.
"The doctor said no going to church till after the end of the year," because of the possibility of infections, his mother said. "He said, 'We'll have to work something out.' People are anxious to see him."
