Boy becomes youngest patient to receive double-hand transplant

His original hands and his feet were amputated after he developed gangrene due to a sepsis infection.

Hand transplants are much more hard and the prognosis always worse with an amputation closer to the wrist, Levin added.

Dr L Scott Levin described Zion as an “incredible little boy”, adding: “This is a huge step forward in worldwide transplantation”.

Zion’s first wish with his new hands?

Doctors say the surgery is highly likely to be the start of further use of transplant surgery for children.

“He goes through things most adults couldn’t fathom and he endures them with a smile and he is happy”, said his mother, Pattie Ray.

Zion must now take drugs to suppress his immune system’s response to the foreign hands, or else his body may reject them. The mother agreed, while saying that it was ultimately his decision to make, because the operation posed no greater risk than the previous transplant.

The success of the first child double hand transplant opens new doors for more advances and developments in the small but growing field of transplant and surgery. “There hasn’t been one whimper, one tear, one complaint”.

PR NEWSWIRE Earlier this month, a surgical team successfully transplanted donor hands and forearms onto eight-year-old Zion Harvey.

Holding his hands up to the crowd, Zion demonstrated the remarkable dexterity that he has already gained by wriggling his fingers.

Leg prosthetics have allowed Zion to be very active, including walking, running and jumping; he had learned to use his forearms to write, eat and play video games, and has been attending school.

Though Zion faces a long road ahead, the “bright and precocious” 8-year-old told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he has big plans for the future that include climbing monkey bars, throwing a football and playing the guitar. “I hope he’s the first of literally hundreds or thousands of patients that are going to be afforded this operation”, said L. Scott Levin, MD, FACS.

“Zion’s kidney transplant following his infection made him a candidate for transplant because he was already taking anti-rejection medication”, Dr. Benjamin Chang, co-director of CHOP’s Hand Transplant Program and associate chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Penn Medicine, said.

With his new hands and prosthetic feet, Zion is scheduled to go home to Baltimore in several weeks.

“They’re really amazed at what I can do”, Harvey said.

The donor’s family chose to remain anonymous.

Zion, who is believed to be the youngest person ever to have received the surgery, said he wouldn’t have minded if the surgery hadn’t been successful.