--- title: Hand Transplant Child Says He Can't Wait to Hold His Little Sister description: Zion Harvey had the world's first bilateral hand transplant canonical: https://time.com/3978077/hand-transplant-little-sister/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-30T00:16:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:44:02.218Z article:section: Health og:title: Boy Who Received Double Hand Transplant Says He Can't Wait to Hold His Little Sister og:description: He received the world's first bilateral hand transplant og:url: https://time.com/3978077/hand-transplant-little-sister/ 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: Boy Who Received Double Hand Transplant Says He Can't Wait to Hold His Little Sister twitter:description: He received the world's first bilateral hand transplant 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 ---  # Boy Who Received Double Hand Transplant Says He Can't Wait to Hold His Little Sister > 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 daily 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 daily 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. by [Char Adams / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Char Adams / People Contributor Jul 30, 2015 12:16 AM UTC  Zion with his new hands after the world's first bilateral hand transplant on a child at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Zion with his new hands after the world's first bilateral hand transplant on a child at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia by [Char Adams / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Char Adams / People Contributor Jul 30, 2015 12:16 AM UTC Eight-year-old [Zion Harvey](http://www.people.com/article/worlds-first-bilateral-hand-transplant-child) could hardly be more thankful for the incredible double-hand transplant he recently received. In an interview with [_Today,_“](http://www.today.com/health/8-year-old-boy-gets-double-hand-transplant-surgical-first-t35136) the boy said he is eager to do one thing: hold his little sister. “My favorite thing \[will be to\] wait for her to run into my hands as I pick her up and spin her around,” he said. After losing his hands and feet to a life-threatening bacterial infection as a toddler, Harvey, who is from Baltimore, recently became the first kid in the world to receive a double hand transplant. Doctors at [The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia](http://www.chop.edu/news/world-s-first-bilateral-hand-transplant-child-performed-children-s-hospital-philadelphia#.VbkOU0j4myQ) disclosed the nearly 11-hour operation this week. Harvey said it is a dream come true. “I hoped and I hoped for somebody to ask me, ‘do I want a hand transplant?’ and it came true,” he said. It was a 40-member team led by Dr. L. Scott Levin that helped the boy to realize his dream. Levin told NBC News that in the face of such a risky operation, Harvey never shed a tear. “I’ve never seen a tear, never an untoward face, never a complaint,” he said. “He’s always positive. And that, in and of itself, is remarkable.” Harvey’s mother, Pattie Ray, said she was happy and overcome with emotion when she saw her son leaving the operating room. “When I saw Zion’s hands for the first time after the operation, I just felt like he was being reborn,” she told the _Today_. “I see my son in the light I haven’t seen him in five years. “It was like having a newborn. It was a very joyous moment for me.” Through the years, Harvey adapted to life without his hands, mastering writing, eating and playing video games. He said he hopes to add swinging from monkey bars to the list. He unveiled his new hands at a hospital press conference on Tuesday where he thanked his family. “I want to say to you guys thank you for helping me do this,” he said. The 8-year-old will spend the next several weeks going through hand therapy at an inpatient rehabilitation center at Children’s Hospital. 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