When Zion Harvey was two years old, the Maryland boy contracted an infection that resulted in the removal of his hands and legs below his feet.
Doctors at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia announced that the 8-year-old boy had become the very first child worldwide to receive a dual hand transplant. This is a medical wonder!
Watch Zion’s courageous story.
He will now be able to throw a football and climb the monkey bars just like any other 8 year old enjoys.
Leading up to the surgery, which took place in July 2015, Zion had been as energetic as any type of various other child of his age. Fitted along with prosthetic legs, he played along with blocks and rode on scooters, and he even knew exactly how to usage a smartphone.
During the 11 hour operation, a 40-individual medical team, including 12 surgeons, used steel plates and screws to attach the old and brand-new bones. Surgeons after that painstakingly reconnected Zion’s arteries, veins, muscles, tendons and nerves.
“He woke up smiling,” Dr. L. Scott Levin, that heads the hand transplant program, said at a news conference at the hospital. “There hasn’t been one whimper, one tear, one complaint.”
Zion and the surgeons joined attendance at the news conference. His forearms heavily bandaged, he was beaming as he told everyone concerning his brand-new hands.
During the event, Zion asked the several family members in attendance to stand and be recognized, telling them: “I hope to say to you guys, thank you for assisting me through this bumpy road.”
He said that, for him, “family means trust chance support and if you fall down they constantly catch you.”
“For me it is a blessing,” said his mother, Pattie Ray. “I have actually been blessed along with a son and an angel. He is my strength.”
Now that Zion has actually his brand new hands, he’s most excited to have the ability to play along with his little sister. He’s additionally hoping for a brand new dog.
“I’ll deal with it,” he told his mother after the press conference. “You don’t have actually to walk it. I will certainly deal with it.”
The hand donor’s family chose to stay anonymous.
Children’s Hospital said it would certainly not hold Zion’s family liable for any type of costs beyond that which could be covered by medical insurance.
