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Zion Harvey

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Jul 2015

First double hand transplant recipient

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Harvey is the first person to receive a double hand transplant. He lost his hands and feet to a bacterial infection when he was two years old. A 40-member transplant team led by Dr. Levin had practiced extensively on cadavers before attempting the operation. Levin:

When I met Zion, I said, ‘Why do you want hands? Zion why do you want hands?’ He’s a very, very intelligent young man. He said, ‘I want to swing on the monkey bars’. You know, that’s sort of a milestone for a lot of kids, and why shouldn’t he be like another child? And you know, our hope is over time, that indeed he’ll be able to do that…This is the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end,. We’ve made a big step forward with this operation

Harvey:

So, when I get these hands, I will be proud of what hands I get. I will be proud.