An eight-year-old boy from Owing Mills, Maryland just underwent a successful double hand transplant, making him the youngest patient of the particular operation.
Doctors at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia conducted a grueling 11-hour operation on Zion Harvey to give him a new set of hands.
The operation was successfully performed by a surgical team composed of 40 medics, who used steel plate and screws to put together Zion's old and new bones and undertook the meticulous job of reconnecting tiny arteries, veins, tendons, muscles and nerves.
The surgery was not made public until this week; and during the young boy's appearance in a Tuesday conference, he was shown with this forearms heavily bandaged as he flashed out a big smile.
He demonstrated to the public his new set of hands that can already perform a delicate grip and described the feeling to be "weird at first, but then good."
Zion's struggles started when he was two years old when he contracted sepsis, or a blood infection, which affected several of his organs, resulting in the amputation of his hands and feet.
The infection also affected his kidney, which is why he needed to have a kidney transplant by the age of four. His mother donated her kidney for his transplant.
Without hands, Zion learned to work with his forearms and use them when eating, playing, and writing.
Now, doctors hope that he would reach many of his goals, which include swinging from monkey bars and throwing ball.
Zion also has prosthetic legs that let him walk and run around freely as he attends school.
Doctors said that the boy is a good candidate for the hand transplant since he's already maintaining immunosuppressant drugs to stop his body from rejecting the transplanted kidney.
Reports stated that the Gift of Life Donor Program facilitated the search for a good match for Zion. The donor's family wishes to maintain anonymity.
