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Phoenix666 writes with a feel-good story:

When he was just 2-years old, he underwent a quadruple amputation after suffering a life-threatening infection in his bloodstream that caused multi-organ failure.

He spent years on dialysis until — at age 4 — he was given a kidney from his mother.

Despite his struggle, which he said included some teasing from classmates, he made the most with what he had while learning how to do such ordinary tasks like holding a fork, write and strum a guitar.
...
  While waiting for a donor match, Zion's doctors practiced the exact procedure on cadavers. When the surgery finally took place they then connected his forearm's bones to the donor's with steel plates and screws.

The arteries and veins were then joined before blood was permitted to flow. Each muscle and tendon was then rejoined followed by the nerves.

Dr. L. Scott Levin, director of the Hand Transplantation Program at the children's hospital, recalled watching Zion's new hand turn pink from the successful blood flow. "That hand was now alive," he told NBC. "That became, instantly, part of Zion's circulation, no different than my hand or your hand."

Someday this kind of medical miracle will become commonplace. Today, we can all stop and be thankful that the anti-science crowd has not yet won.

[Ed: A BBC News broadcast within the last hour contained an interesting snippet - because the hand and forearm are alive, and to all intents and purposes belong to Zion's body, they are expected to grow normally as he grows.]

Ed: Headline changed - it is not the first double hand transplant. (JR)]

Original Submission