Boy Returns Home After Double Hand Transplant

An Owings Mills boy who underwent a groundbreaking surgery has returned home, according to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Zion Harvey, 8, received two new hands earlier this summer in a procedure the hospital said was the first of its kind for a child.

As a toddler, Harvey had his feet and hands amputated as the result of an infection.

Following an 11-hour surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to get two hands, Harvey spent weeks there developing his ability to use them through physical and occupational therapy.

“Almost immediately after surgery, Zion displayed his resilience and positive attitude as he adjusted to the incredible experience of having new hands,” L. Scott Levin, M.D., the lead surgeon, said in a statement.

By his release from the hospital Wednesday, Harvey was holding action figures and a whisk, “doing all sorts of things with his hands we never dreamed he would be able to do within a few weeks of surgery,” Levin told NBC.

“We are so proud of Zion,” Levin said in a statement.

Related: Boy Receives Groundbreaking Double Hand Transplant

For the next two years, Harvey will likely receive outpatient therapy to ensure the full use of his new hands, according to the hospital.

The team of 40 at the hospital which operated on the boy will continue to follow him monthly at first, then annually for the rest of his life, the hospital said in a statement.

“The challenges facing Zion are new, but his determination should overcome them,” his mother, Pattie Ray, said in the statement. ”He’s already done so many amazing things. This is just one more hurdle he’s ready to jump.”

Screenshot from Zion’s story via YouTube/Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.