West Coast's First Hand Transplant Recipient Rides in 2012 Rose Parade

Imagine trying to wrap your child's holiday presents with only your left hand — when you're right-handed. For the last five years, that's exactly what 26-year-old Emily Fennell of Yuba City, Calif., has had to do.

This year, it's different. Nine months ago, the young office assistant received a life-changing gift at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center: the first hand transplant in the western United States.

Fennell will now be waving from the Donate Life float in the 2012 Rose Parade on Jan. 2, one of 28 riders representing organ and tissue donors, transplant recipients, and candidates on the transplant waiting list.

"Now I'm so accustomed to my new right hand, I barely remember when I didn't have one," Fennell said.

Learn more at http://handtransplant.ucla.edu

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Science & Technology

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• UCLA hand transplant
• Emily Fennell
• hand transplantation
• 2012 Rose Parade
• organ donation
• hand donation