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Zion Harvey’s Story a Year After His Double Hand Transplant Will Melt Your Heart

Posted byBy Ricky Riley | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

After undergoing surgery a year ago, 9-year-old Zion Harvey became the first child to successfully receive two hand transplants.

At age 2, Zion lost both arms and legs to an infection that also damaged his kidneys.

As a result, his mother, Pattie Ray, donated one of her kidneys to save her beloved son.

“Without my mom, I would not be right here right now,” Zion tells NBC News reporters. “It’s been me and my mom forever.”

In the profile, Zion talks about how his new hands have made his dreams come true.

Last year, the two were given the opportunity to be part of a new medical procedure at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Zion underwent a grueling 11-hour procedure to get his new hands.

Now, he must rehab to strengthen his new limbs.

“I’m very excited,” Zion exclaims. “Because now I can do more than I imagined. Like throw a football … So when I got my hands, it’s like, here’s the piece of my life that was missing. Now it’s here. Now my life is complete.”

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We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

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