--- 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: 2026-10-05T08:29:28.467Z 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 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=00fcff5a-c652-471d-8681-604dbc7b1a25&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 [Char Adams / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Char Adams / People Contributor Jul 30, 2015 12:16 AM UTC Zion's Story - First Bilateral Hand Transplant in a Child 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. [_This article first appeared on People.com_](http://www.people.com/article/zion-harvey-double-hand-transplant?xid=IFT-Trending) ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:02] We [00:04] have [00:07] some [00:09] good [00:12] news [00:14] for [00:17] you. [00:19] [ MUSIC ] [00:22] Close [00:24] up [00:27] far [00:29] away. [00:31] Close [00:34] up. [00:36] Far [00:39] away. [00:41] Call Zoey Zion. Zoey. Close up. Come on! Come on! I [00:45] wasn't, I wasn't always like this. [01:02] When I was two, I had to get my hands cut off because [01:07] I was sick. [ MUSIC ] I [01:21] don't know what a child's [01:25] hand looks like. It could be this color. [01:31] Or this color, I don't know. Okay. Make [01:43] a muscle. Over here. Let me see how strong you are. We [01:47] have followed Zion for probably about a year and a half [01:50] now. And done extensive evaluations [01:54] to see if he was a good candidate for a hand transplant. [01:57] So, when I get these hands, I will be proud of [02:03] what hands I get. I will be proud. [02:10] I will be too. Yeah, cuz they're going to be your [02:15] new hands. Are you excited? And if it gets messed up, It's [02:18] not going to get messed up. Are you excited? I [02:22] don't care, because I have my family. [ MUSIC ] As [02:29] far as we know, it's never been even attempted in a child. [02:33] One of the things that's unique about Zion is that he [02:36] already had kidney transplants. He's on medication for [02:40] rejection. And so essentially we could piggyback off of that [02:44] same medication. Our concerns about doing these hand [02:47] transplants in anybody is that once you do it, the patient [02:50] has to stay on lifelong medication So they don't reject. And [02:54] those medications increase the risk of infection and they [02:57] also increase your risk of having some cancer develop [03:01] later on in life. And so for a child that's a very, very difficult [03:05] decision. Stand up straight, let me see your arm. Now I [03:08] want you to make a fist for me. Make a fist. Good relax. [03:12] When I met Zion I said why do you want hands? Zion why [03:16] do you want hands? He's very, very intelligent young man. [03:20] Said I want to swing on the monkey bars. My grandmother [03:24] said I'm smarter than [03:28] a lot of grownups. [03:33] I'm really smarter than a lot of grownups. [03:33] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] You know, that's sort of a milestone for [03:34] a lot of kids, and why shouldn't he be like another child? [03:38] And, you know, our hope is over time that, indeed, he'll be [03:42] able to do that. And that's a TV camera. He wants [03:46] to know if he's on TV. This is just like another hurdle that [03:50] he jumps. How can I There is no me. He [03:55] jumped so many hurdles, he's so amazing. This isn't the [03:58] first amazing thing that he's done. He's been doing [04:01] amazing things since he's been sick. I don't know many [04:04] adults that could handle half of his life on a day to day [04:08] basis. Like sometimes I [04:13] just think some of my classmates they don't mean to say [04:17] mean things to me, but it just slips out. [04:27] So either somebody says something to me [04:32] and then I just figure it slipped [04:36] out and they didn't mean to say [04:42] it. Everybody has their own way of thinking things. Each [04:53] year, there are only 15 children, based on the databases, [04:58] that would even be eligible to donate hands. And [05:02] then it comes down to the organ procurement [05:05] organizations approaching families at a terrible time, the [05:10] loss of a child. Let's just stop and think about that. [05:14] So, the fact that he was put on the waiting list for [05:19] hands in April and [05:23] three months later, this came along. That in and [05:27] of itself was a remarkable story. [ MUSIC ] [05:38] Chrissy called me and she's like okay we have a match. [05:41] I'm like stop playing Chrissy. She's like no I'm serious. [05:44] [ MUSIC ] [05:48] We have about 12 surgeons and [05:53] a whole Bevy of nurses, at least eight nurses [05:58] circling in and out. And then a team of anesthesiologists. I [06:01] think at least three or four of them that'll be working [06:04] throughout the nights. So, it's a large team. There's [06:10] an expression in surgery. Preparation is the [06:14] only short cut you need. And particularly in surgery, [06:18] and in highly complex operations, we prepare. [ MUSIC ] [06:22] [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] [06:33] So, we're about to get started. Zion's just come in to the [06:36] room. And they're starting to put intravenous [06:40] lines in and get ready for the surgery. We'll prepare [06:44] the donor limbs and the recipient sites. And then do the [06:47] actual transplantation. So, expect to be here all night, but [06:51] hopefully at the end we'll have two hands on two arms. [06:54] Okay. Hi. Good to see you, doctor. How are you? Ready? [06:58] Good. [ INAUDIBLE ] We've rehearsed. [07:03] We know our steps. We know each other. We know what [07:07] we have to do today. And I think everybody assembled [07:11] here has committed to this patient and making this a reality [07:15] for this little boy. We can have complications. [07:20] We can fail. We can have troubles. But we're not planning [07:24] on it. So, everybody is familiar with their [07:28] particular role. And I just want to say in advance, [07:33] we'll do our best and we're all here together. [ MUSIC ] [07:43] This is a new arena of reconstructive surgery. It's [07:47] a new arena in transplant surgery. Now this gives new [07:51] hope, not only to the adults, but particularly children. And [07:54] there are ethical issues and questions about the [07:56] implications for that, but that deceased child's hands [08:01] and expression, if you will, will live on in Zion. And [08:05] that's a pretty profound thing when you You think about it. [08:09] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] In the [08:15] beginning of the operation, we actually had four teams [08:17] operating at the same time, and each of them had specific [08:21] things they were supposed to do. So they had to find all the [08:23] structures, put pre- made tags on them for every single [08:26] structure that we'd have to repair, And they would have to [08:29] sew those onto the nerves, blood vessels, tendons, et [08:32] cetera. [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] [08:46] It's one thing to sew adult vessels, which in and of [08:49] themselves are small, and it requires a kind of skill. But the [08:52] highest echelons of reconstructive microsurgery take place [08:56] in, in children, small children. And my colleagues who [09:00] participate in the microvascular aspects of the cure are just [09:04] the best in the world. We gotta leave [09:09] those here. So [09:13] we gotta cut [09:18] those really short. [09:22] [ NOISE ] [ INAUDIBLE ] Blood is going across the hook [09:26] up here and you can see the hand right here is starting to [09:30] pink up. Do you see the capillary refill? Do you [09:34] see that? See it's white when I touch it and [09:39] then it pinks up. And now that's starting to get [09:43] out to the level of the fingers. How's my baby? Great. He's [09:47] doing well. Just came out to give [09:52] you an update. Thank you. So, we've got through a lot [09:57] so far. Okay. Yeah, we brought this thing down into four [10:00] different parts. Okay. And we're on this last part here. [10:02] Mmhm. So, at this point the hands have already been [10:07] attached so the bones are back together and Dr. Levin and [10:11] the other microsurgeons are working on putting the arteries [10:13] and veins together. So We want to really make sure that [10:18] this was going to work for our patient, and work for a life [10:21] time, not just a year. For us, this is really not just a technical [10:25] exercise, it's really trying to restore a better level of life time [10:29] function for these patients. [ MUSIC ] [11:13] I think, all of you who know about microsurgery. And, all of [11:16] you do. Do know that we're not out of the woods and this is [11:19] sort of, just the first step. And, we have to be very vigilant [11:22] and we have a whole protocol on how to take care of this [11:25] little guy. But, from the bottom of my heart, thanks. [11:27] [ MUSIC ] We [11:36] have some good news for ya. [ MUSIC ] And your little guy [11:39] has two hands. [ MUSIC ] [11:54] Hi Zion. What might we say about Zion Harvey? Be in 10 [11:58] years or 15 years. What might we say about this? I hope [12:03] he's the first of literally hundreds or thousands of patients [12:06] that are going to be afforded this operation. [ MUSIC ] [12:11] All [12:14] right. Up, up, [12:19] up, nice. [ MUSIC ] No hands. [ LAUGH ] That's all you. [12:21] Don't let me get it. Don't [12:26] let him take it. I'm gonna get it. It's like a war. [ LAUGH ] [12:31] He's in no better place than in the children's hospital of [12:34] Philadelphia to make sure he gets through this and does [12:37] well. Me and Zoey want [12:43] a puppy. [ LAUGH ] Where's the puppy gonna live? My [12:43] room. Where [12:48] else? 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