Zion gets rigorous therapy several times a day and can already move his fingers a little. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where the operation was performed, announced the breakthrough at a news conference Tuesday.
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“He woke up smiling”, said Dr L Scott Levin, who heads the hand transplant programme. The surgical team was divided into four simultaneous operating teams, two focused on the donor limbs, and two focused on the recipient.
The donor’s hands and forearms were attached by connecting bone, blood vessels, nerves, muscles tendons and skin, Levin explained to NBC News. Hospital officials in Philadelphia believe Zion is the youngest person to undergo a double-hand transplant, which requires a lifetime of immune-suppressing drugs to ensure the body doesn’t reject the new limbs.
A chronicle of Zion’s journey to and through surgery was documented by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in the video below.
His positive spirit and handsome outlook on life make him a true inspiration, and now with a successful surgery – which made medical history – behind him, he’s even more excited about his future.
Zion, who had previously received a kidney transplant from his mother, had been taking anti-rejection drugs. The same infection that cost Zion his hands and feet also caused his kidneys to fail and he already had undergone a kidney transplant.
In a world’s first, a child has received a double hand transplant.
Doctors are hopeful that the transplant will give Zion greater mobility and allow him to fulfil dreams of climbing on monkey bars and throwing a football.
After losing his hands, the young child learned to use his forearms to write, eat and play video games. Microvascular surgical techniques were then used to connect the arteries and veins. The boy lost his hands and feet as a toddler when he contracted sepsis. With blood flow re-established, each muscle and tendon was reattached, followed by the nerves.
The outlet quotes Zion’s mom who said, “We came for prosthetics and the next thing we knew we were getting hands.”
The patient, Zion Harvey, was initially referred to Shriners Hospital for Children and was evaluated as the possible recipient for a pediatric hand transplant through a coordinated effort between Shriners and CHOP.
“We have some good news for you”.
But only three months later, Zion had the life changing, 11 hour surgery with the help of dozens of doctors and nurses, The Associated Press reported.
The boy will spend several more weeks in the hospital’s rehabilitation unit before being discharged to his home in Baltimore.
The world had never before seen a double hand transplant on a pediatric patient, so the idea wasn’t just big-it was groundbreaking.
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The spotlight was on him, but then Zion did something unexpected: He asked his family to stand.
