Eight-year-old Zion Harvey can now sign the childhood song that begins with “I have two hands, the left and the right …”
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Hand transplants are much more hard and the prognosis always worse with an amputation closer to the wrist, Levin added.
The operation, which consisted of two donor hands being connected by blood vessels, nerves, muscles, tendons and skin, was a huge success.
The lead surgeon, Dr. L. Scott Levin and his 40-member team practiced the surgery extensively on cadavers before performing Zion’s lengthy surgery. The boy, who showed up at the news conference on Tuesday with bandaged, but visible, hands, woke up smiling, Levin shares.
The hospital completed its first successful bilateral hand transplant on an adult in 2011.
Harvey lost both of his hands and his feet when he was only 2-years-old after contracting a serious infection that caused multi-organ system failure, according to E! The hands came from another boy, roughly the same size and age. But at age 6, his mom found out about Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, which specializes in caring for kids like Zion that have prosthetics on their limbs.
Following his latest surgery, doctors now hope that Zion will soon make his dreams of throwing a football and swinging on the monkey bars a reality. “There hasn’t been one whimper, one tear, one complaint”.
Eight-year-old Zion Harvey from Baltimore is the first child in the world to have a double hand transplant. Through the transplant Zion has learned to use his forearms to write, eat and play video games. “The collaborative effort between these institutions was necessary to assemble the team and organize the players to orchestrate such a complex and demanding procedure that had never been performed on a child”, stated Scott H.
Harvey will remain in Philadelphia for several more weeks while he recovers, and his therapy will go on for months. Physicians expect his new fingers will assist him to obtain several more life landmarks, inclusive of his ought to thrust a footballing. Zion previously had a kidney transplant from his mother, so he is already taking anti-rejection drugs, something doctors say made him a good candidate for hand transplantation.
Donor’s family opted for anonymity.
Zion Harvey, of Baltimore, underwent the intricate 11-hour operation earlier this month, and on Tuesday, he thanked doctors for helping him on a “bumpy road”.
He is very active at school and can walk, run and jump.
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Children’s hospital said they would not be held responsible for Zion family any other costs that may be covered by medical insurance.
