Owings Mills boy first recipient of double hand transplant on a child - Polidicks

Source: [url]http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-hand-transplant-philadelphia-20150728-story.html#page=1[/url] [img]http://cdn.patch.com/users/714975/2015/08/T800x600/20150855be5d6399c2c.png[/img] [quote] Zion Harvey strained to grasp the slice of sausage pizza, his fingers clamping down only part of the way before a therapist jumped in to help press them completely together. Using hands is new — and difficult — for 8-year-old Zion because it wasn't so long ago that he didn't have any. When he was 2, doctors amputated his hands and feet after a sepsis infection caused him to develop gangrene. [/quote] This kid lives literally two minutes from me. Good to finally see good news from my area.

What happens when the kid grows up? Does he have to get new hands, or are they going to grow with him?

[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;48365755]What happens when the kid grows up? Does he have to get new hands, or are they going to grow with him?[/QUOTE] I imagine they'll grow with him, as tissue should continue to evolve/grow with him.

That's really cool for a young kid to get new hands after 6 years. But were they donated from a less fortunate kid, or were they grown in a tank?

I doubt we're at the level where we can grow entire limbs in tanks, even basic organs are highly experimental right now

[QUOTE=Crimor;48365856]I doubt we're at the level where we can grow entire limbs in tanks, even basic organs are highly experimental right now[/QUOTE] Within our lifetimes we'll see it happen.

[QUOTE=ironman17;48365832]That's really cool for a young kid to get new hands after 6 years. But were they donated from a less fortunate kid, or were they grown in a tank?[/QUOTE] Maybe someone that just died. Like heart transplants.

This is a great thing and it's kind of amazing that we just transplanted two hands onto a kid but all I can think of is how cruel you have to be as parents to give your child a name as stupid as Zion.

[QUOTE=agentfazexx;48365964]Maybe someone that just died. Like heart transplants.[/QUOTE] That's what I was implying by "donated from a less fortunate kid".

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;48365986]This is a great thing and it's kind of amazing that we just transplanted two hands onto a kid but all I can think of is how cruel you have to be as parents to give your child a name as stupid as Zion.[/QUOTE] That's nothing compared to some names. I heard someone named their kid Facebook once. Literally. [editline]3rd August 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=ironman17;48366003]That's what I was implying by "donated from a less fortunate kid".[/QUOTE] That or maybe someone paralyzed.

[QUOTE=agentfazexx;48366046]That or maybe someone paralyzed.[/QUOTE] you won't be needing these, right

[QUOTE=dai;48366237]you won't be needing these, right[/QUOTE] Well I mean obviously if it was from someone paralyzed, they'd donate them. Hopefully.

[QUOTE=agentfazexx;48366046]That or maybe someone paralyzed.[/QUOTE] I [I]really[/I] doubt any doctor would do that. With an adult donor who was pressuring them [I]maybe[/I] (and even then I'd really doubt it) but with a child there's just no way they'd do it. That said I haven't heard of anything more complex than an ear or nose being "grown" in a lab, so there must have been an accident victim who died.

[QUOTE=Tamschi;48366279]I [I]really[/I] doubt any doctor would do that. With an adult donor who was pressuring them [I]maybe[/I] (and even then I'd really doubt it) but with a child there's just no way they'd do it. That said I haven't heard of anything more complex than an ear or nose being "grown" in a lab, so there must have been an accident victim who died.[/QUOTE] Yeah that's true, never thought of it that way. Good point.

I wonder how it would look if he got hands from a white kid.

[QUOTE=abananapeel;48366454]I wonder how it would look if he got hands from a white kid.[/QUOTE] Dumb? Was this a serious question?

[QUOTE=agentfazexx;48366621]Dumb? Was this a serious question?[/QUOTE] People are curious, and wonder how they would look together with his darker skin. How is that a bad question? It's just a curious person wanting to know.

[QUOTE=agentfazexx;48366046]That or maybe someone paralyzed.[/QUOTE] Thing is, I was thinking that the arms came from a dead kid, then put on ice until they could be sewed onto Zion's surgically-prepped stumps like something out of 19th century science-fiction. Sounds like something Mary Shelley woulda written about, but it still seems more realistic than a paralysed child willingly giving up their arms, since such a sacrifice would require near-unrealistic altruism. So yeah, my money's still on Zion's new arms being donors from a dead kid. That does seem like something he could write in a journal as a teenager, something along the lines of "these hands are not my own, they are the arms of a dead boy..." Assuming there's no tissue rejection later on in life, that is.

What if he develops alien hand syndrome?

[QUOTE=eirexe;48368189]People are curious, and wonder how they would look together with his darker skin. How is that a bad question? It's just a curious person wanting to know.[/QUOTE] Yeah I'm a bit curious too, would the hands eventually change tone to match the rest of his body or would they stay white?

[QUOTE=helifreak;48368544]Yeah I'm a bit curious too, would the hands eventually change tone to match the rest of his body or would they stay white?[/QUOTE] I imagine that since they're their own separate tissue that tissue would continue living as it always has as long as it's properly fed by the blood stream and isn't rejected.

[QUOTE=agentfazexx;48366244]Well I mean obviously if it was from someone paralyzed, they'd donate them. Hopefully.[/QUOTE] Next day paralysis is cured.

[QUOTE=Mingebox;48368613]Next day paralysis is cured.[/QUOTE] Shit that would suck [editline]3rd August 2015[/editline] They're MY HANDS and I want them NOW!

I have always wonder how a hand or leg transplant would work if the limb is a different skin pigment would it change to yours or stay the same? because i think it would be cool to have a different colored limb its better than skin bleaching.

Don't people who receive transplants have to take medication for the rest of their lives, to stop their body from rejecting it? Worth it I'd say.

[QUOTE=ironman17;48366003]That's what I was implying by "donated from a less fortunate kid".[/QUOTE] That's my take from the article as well. They talk about waiting for a matching pair to become available, but doesn't say where they actually came from (The state the donor is in). Kinda have to be a kid with the same skin and similar age considering they say that they wanted a pair that matched his color and size Really feels like i'm taking about shoes or something. Weird.

We just need to give him feet and we will successfully have frankensteined him.

I saw this on the BBC news, I think one of the doctors mentioned that it was a brain dead transplant. While he's going to need immune suppressing drugs for life, it's at least something to have functioning hands.

[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;48372218]I saw this on the BBC news, I think one of the doctors mentioned that it was a brain dead transplant. While he's going to need immune suppressing drugs for life, it's at least something to have functioning hands.[/QUOTE] What I'm always wondering in relation to this: How dangerous do those make regular infections/inflammations? Or are they so far developed that they now don't interfere as much with those?

[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;48372218] While he's going to need immune suppressing drugs for life, it's at least something to have functioning hands.[/QUOTE] What happens when you dont take them? The body starts destroying the hands?