Zion Harvey’s Hand Transplant: 8-Year-Old Boy Receives World’s First Bilateral Hand Transplant On A Child


Zion Harvey’s hand transplant marked the world’s first bilateral hand transplant to ever be done on a child.

The 8-year-old little boy underwent the hand transplant at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and now hopes to be able to do all the activities that other children can do, like swinging on the monkey bars.

Harvey lost both of his hands and his feet when he was only 2-years-old after contracting a serious infection that caused multi-organ system failure, according to E! News. Both of his hands and his feet had to be amputated and he had to go on dialysis. At the age of four, Harvey received a kidney transplant from his mother.

“I wasn’t always like this, when I was 2, I had to get my hands cut off, because I was sick,” he told the camera in a YouTube video.

When Zion was six, his mother, Pattie Ray, contacted the Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia to see about getting prosthetics for his hands, like the ones he wears on his legs. It was then that she was told about Dr. Levin and his hand transplant program at the The University of Pennsylvania.

“I have met with him and his mother several times and you would think an 8-year-old would be overwhelmed or bewildered, or unclear as to the pathway we were setting for him,” Levin explained. “But when I first met him, I said to him, ‘Why do you want hands, Zion?’ And he said ’cause I want to swing on the monkey bars.’ That’s a pretty logical answer for an 8-year-old. And a pretty profound statement to me.”

The 40-member transplant team, led by Levin, took what they learned during the first adult bilateral hand transplant in 2011 and adapted it to Zion’s surgery. They spent months working on cadavers, making sure they knew exactly what they would be doing before operating on Harvey.

“The planning took approximately 18 months,” Levin told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “For those of you who are familiar with the book about Apollo 13, Failure Is Not An Option, that’s how our team approached this transplant.”

“The success of Penn’s first bilateral hand transplant on an adult, performed in 2011, gave us a foundation to adapt the intricate techniques and coordinated plans required to perform this type of complex procedure on a child,” Levin added.

In April, Zion was put on a waiting list, knowing that it could take a while to find the perfect set of hands. He was already the perfect candidate because he was taking immunosuppressant drugs to keep his body from rejecting his mother’s kidney, and in July, they got the call that a pair of hands had been found.

In early July, Zion became the first ever child to receive a bilateral hand transplant during a 10-hour surgery. Although the surgery was successful, Zion will need several more weeks of rehabilitation before he is released from the hospital. He will then meet with the doctors monthly, and eventually annually.

Needless to say, Zion has not had the easiest childhood thus far. However, his maturity and wisdom has kept him going, and he has big plans for his future. He may even go on to be a doctor himself, just the kind that doesn’t give shots.

“I’ve never seen a tear, never an untoward face, never a complaint,” Levin said. “He’s always positive. And that, in and of itself, is remarkable.”

[Image via The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia]

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