[News] Child receives first double hand transplant

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

In 2015, the Baltimore boy made history as the first child to successfully receive a double hand transplant. Now, at 10 years old, Zion can use his new hands to perform everyday tasks that other children might take for granted, such as reading and writing, making his lunch and gripping a baseball bat.

"He was able to grip a baseball bat, which was something he wanted to do, by about a year, but now he can do it more powerfully with more coordinated motion between the right and the left hand," said Dr. Sandra Amaral, medical director of the hand transplant program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who was involved in Zion's care.
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Levin, Amaral and 28 other doctors and researchers co-authored a paper describing Zion's history-making surgery and recovery, published in the journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health on Tuesday.
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Zion's hands and feet were amputated when he was 2 years old due to a life-threatening sepsis infection that resulted in the failure of multiple organs.

Then, at 8, he underwent a complicated 10-hour surgery in which the hands of a donor were surgically connected to his arms and became his own.

[Daehawk]

Cool beans.

[paulbaxter]

Wow, ten hours seems fast for that. Wonder if they were doing it concurrently for each hand. I was just reading an article about face transplantation at a NYC hospital. That one took three days (working round the clock).

[The Meal]

[Isgrimnur]

He can do that now.