Zion Harvey has become the first child to ever receive a bilateral hand transplant. Prior to this momentous occasion in medical history, this sort of surgery has only been performed on adult patients. The 8-year-old of Baltimore, Maryland lost his hands and feet when he was just two. An extremely insidious, near-fatal infection, gangrene laid claim to his extremities, but also his kidneys. It was an initial stroke of luck that kept him alive. The second stroke has arisen.
Bad luck doesn’t necessarily travel without good. Zion Harvey has become the first child recipient to a bilateral hand transplant. While his short life has been trying and rough, it was his kidney infection that saved his hands.
By the time Zion was 4, the infection aggressively spread onto his kidney. His mother donated her own. The kidney transplant called for anti-rejection medicine post-op. As Harvey was taking this medicine, the possibility of the bilateral hand transplant.
A Highly Contested Debate in the Medical Community
A huge ethical dilemma widely debated in the medical community has concerned forcing a child to take a medication for the rest of their lives for a non life-threatening condition. In Zion Harvey’s case, he could have lived a happy life without hands, but losing his kidneys would have cost him his life. The ethical issues were overruled by this cold, hard truth.
Who performed Harvey’s Bilateral Hand Transplant?
The medical team that would perform his bilateral hand transplant were a team of 40 professionals from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine. The surgery took orthopedic surgeons, plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, radiologists and nurses, and 11-hours–and the results were a new pair of hands for Zion Harvey. And a true moment in medical history.
What’s Next for Zion Harvey?
Zion now has a new kidney, two prosthetic legs and a new pair of hands. With his new pair of hands, Zion will need to undergo continued physical therapy to further get a grasp on his new hands. He has expressed his lifelong dream is to be able to throw a football. Who knows? Maybe he’ll be on our cereal boxes down the line.
Photo courtesy of UPI.
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