--- title: First Bilateral Hand Transplant on a Child Successful description: Surgeons at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have successfully performed the first ever bilateral hand transplant on a child. canonical: https://time.com/3973309/hand-transplant-video/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-28T18:30:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:29:35.045Z article:section: Health og:title: First Bilateral Hand Transplant on a Child Successful og:description: Surgeons at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have successfully performed the first ever bilateral hand transplant on a child. og:url: https://time.com/3973309/hand-transplant-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31164f1ac7b9035f/69885c953c16397a65459001/zion-hand-transplant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: Zion with his new hands after the world's first bilateral hand transplant on a child at The Children's Hospital of Philidelphia. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: First Bilateral Hand Transplant on a Child Successful twitter:description: Surgeons at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have successfully performed the first ever bilateral hand transplant on a child. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31164f1ac7b9035f/69885c953c16397a65459001/zion-hand-transplant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch This Amazing Child Get a Bilateral Hand Transplant > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=609b89b2-fa5a-413f-8290-3e0e0edcf9f7&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Zion's Story - First Bilateral Hand Transplant in a Child [Watch (HLS stream): Zion's Story - First Bilateral Hand Transplant in a Child](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WjIh5WvU.m3u8) (13:11)  _Published 2015-07-28. Zion's Story - First Bilateral Hand Transplant in a Child_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 28, 2015 6:30 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jul 28, 2015 6:30 PM UTC Surgeons have successfully performed the first ever bilateral hand transplant on a child. In early July, surgeons at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia performed the complex surgery to attach two donor hands to Zion Harvey, an eight-year-old boy whose hands and feet were amputated several years ago after he caught a severe and unknown infection. “I made the decision from a medical standpoint, but ultimately, to have the surgery was Zion’s decision,” says Zion’s mother Pattie Ray in an interview with TIME. “He wanted to do what other children can do without so much trouble.” Since Zion had already undergone a kidney transplant, he was taking anti-rejection medication which increased his potential as a viable candidate for a pediatric hand transplant. The surgery was performed this month when there was a donor match (the precise date of the surgery is withheld to protect donors). Zion also has prosthetic feet. As depicted in the video above, the medical team performing the surgery was split into four teams, with two focusing on the donor limbs and two focusing on Zion. The surgeons connected bones with steel plates and screws and then connected the arteries and veins. When the team had successful blood flow, they connected the muscles, tendons and nerves.  The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia “I was nervous and anxious during his surgery,” says Ray. “When they told me the surgery was successful I breathed a big sigh of relief. I could breathe again.” Zion continues to undergo hand therapy multiple times a day, something he became accustomed to after his prior surgeries. “He’s improving every day,” says Ray. “Yesterday he held some pizza and put it in his mouth.” Doctors say that after his rehabilitation, Zion will be able to throw a football among other daily activities that were previously more difficult. Ray says that Zion wants to have a party to show off his new hands when he’s released from the hospital. “He hopes to inspire others and open doors,” she says. ### See the Human Body Under a Microscope  Adrenaline crystals (polarized light micrographs) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited  Balancing stone from inner ear (colored scanning electron micrograph) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited  Blood clot (colored scanning electron micrograph) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited  Breast cancer (light micrograph) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited  Insulin crystals (polarized light micrograph) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited  Melatonin crystals (polarized light micrograph) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited  Penicillium fungus (colored scanning electron micrograph) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited  Serotonin crystals (polarized light micrograph) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited  Vaginal cancer cells (colored scanning electron micrograph) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited  Ventolin crystals (colred scanning electron micrographs) Reprinted with permission from Science is Beautiful © 2014 by Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company Limited ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] We have some good news for you. [ MUSIC ] Close up far away. Close up. Far away. Call Zoey Zion. Zoey. Close up. Come on! Come on! I wasn't, I wasn't always like this. When I was two, I had to get my hands cut off because I was sick. [ MUSIC ] I don't know what a child's hand looks like. It could be this color. Or this color, I don't know. Okay. Make a muscle. Over here. Let me see how strong you are. We have followed Zion for probably about a year and a half now. And done extensive evaluations to see if he was a good candidate for a hand transplant. So, when I get these hands, I will be proud of what hands I get. I will be proud. I will be too. Yeah, cuz they're going to be your new hands. Are you excited? And if it gets messed up, It's not going to get messed up. Are you excited? I don't care, because I have my family. [ MUSIC ] As far as we know, it's never been even attempted in a child. One of the things that's unique about Zion is that he already had kidney transplants. He's on medication for rejection. And so essentially we could piggyback off of that same medication. Our concerns about doing these hand transplants in anybody is that once you do it, the patient has to stay on lifelong medication So they don't reject. And those medications increase the risk of infection and they also increase your risk of having some cancer develop later on in life. And so for a child that's a very, very difficult decision. Stand up straight, let me see your arm. Now I want you to make a fist for me. Make a fist. Good relax. When I met Zion I said why do you want hands? Zion why do you want hands? He's very, very intelligent young man. Said I want to swing on the monkey bars. My grandmother said I'm smarter than a lot of grownups. I'm really smarter than a lot of grownups. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] 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. And that's a TV camera. He wants to know if he's on TV. This is just like another hurdle that he jumps. How can I There is no me. He jumped so many hurdles, he's so amazing. This isn't the first amazing thing that he's done. He's been doing amazing things since he's been sick. I don't know many adults that could handle half of his life on a day to day basis. Like sometimes I just think some of my classmates they don't mean to say mean things to me, but it just slips out. So either somebody says something to me and then I just figure it slipped out and they didn't mean to say it. Everybody has their own way of thinking things. Each year, there are only 15 children, based on the databases, that would even be eligible to donate hands. And then it comes down to the organ procurement organizations approaching families at a terrible time, the loss of a child. Let's just stop and think about that. So, the fact that he was put on the waiting list for hands in April and three months later, this came along. That in and of itself was a remarkable story. [ MUSIC ] Chrissy called me and she's like okay we have a match. I'm like stop playing Chrissy. She's like no I'm serious. [ MUSIC ] We have about 12 surgeons and a whole Bevy of nurses, at least eight nurses circling in and out. And then a team of anesthesiologists. I think at least three or four of them that'll be working throughout the nights. So, it's a large team. There's an expression in surgery. Preparation is the only short cut you need. And particularly in surgery, and in highly complex operations, we prepare. [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] So, we're about to get started. Zion's just come in to the room. And they're starting to put intravenous lines in and get ready for the surgery. We'll prepare the donor limbs and the recipient sites. And then do the actual transplantation. So, expect to be here all night, but hopefully at the end we'll have two hands on two arms. Okay. Hi. Good to see you, doctor. How are you? Ready? Good. [ INAUDIBLE ] We've rehearsed. We know our steps. We know each other. We know what we have to do today. And I think everybody assembled here has committed to this patient and making this a reality for this little boy. We can have complications. We can fail. We can have troubles. But we're not planning on it. So, everybody is familiar with their particular role. And I just want to say in advance, we'll do our best and we're all here together. [ MUSIC ] This is a new arena of reconstructive surgery. It's a new arena in transplant surgery. Now this gives new hope, not only to the adults, but particularly children. And there are ethical issues and questions about the implications for that, but that deceased child's hands and expression, if you will, will live on in Zion. And that's a pretty profound thing when you You think about it. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] In the beginning of the operation, we actually had four teams operating at the same time, and each of them had specific things they were supposed to do. So they had to find all the structures, put pre- made tags on them for every single structure that we'd have to repair, And they would have to sew those onto the nerves, blood vessels, tendons, et cetera. [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] It's one thing to sew adult vessels, which in and of themselves are small, and it requires a kind of skill. But the highest echelons of reconstructive microsurgery take place in, in children, small children. And my colleagues who participate in the microvascular aspects of the cure are just the best in the world. We gotta leave those here. So we gotta cut those really short. [ NOISE ] [ INAUDIBLE ] Blood is going across the hook up here and you can see the hand right here is starting to pink up. Do you see the capillary refill? Do you see that? See it's white when I touch it and then it pinks up. And now that's starting to get out to the level of the fingers. How's my baby? Great. He's doing well. Just came out to give you an update. Thank you. So, we've got through a lot so far. Okay. Yeah, we brought this thing down into four different parts. Okay. And we're on this last part here. Mmhm. So, at this point the hands have already been attached so the bones are back together and Dr. Levin and the other microsurgeons are working on putting the arteries and veins together. So We want to really make sure that this was going to work for our patient, and work for a life time, not just a year. For us, this is really not just a technical exercise, it's really trying to restore a better level of life time function for these patients. [ MUSIC ] I think, all of you who know about microsurgery. And, all of you do. Do know that we're not out of the woods and this is sort of, just the first step. And, we have to be very vigilant and we have a whole protocol on how to take care of this little guy. But, from the bottom of my heart, thanks. [ MUSIC ] We have some good news for ya. [ MUSIC ] And your little guy has two hands. [ MUSIC ] Hi Zion. What might we say about Zion Harvey? Be in 10 years or 15 years. What might we say about this? I hope he's the first of literally hundreds or thousands of patients that are going to be afforded this operation. [ MUSIC ] All right. Up, up, up, nice. [ MUSIC ] No hands. [ LAUGH ] That's all you. Don't let me get it. Don't let him take it. I'm gonna get it. It's like a war. [ LAUGH ] He's in no better place than in the children's hospital of Philadelphia to make sure he gets through this and does well. Me and Zoey want a puppy. [ LAUGH ] Where's the puppy gonna live? My room. Where else? 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