UCLA's first hand transplant patient adapting well to new hand

26-year-old single mom looking forward to doing the 'little things' again

Six-and-a-half weeks after receiving the first hand transplant in the western United States, Emily Fennell is becoming so accustomed to her new right hand that she barely remembers when she didn't have one.

The 26-year-old from Yuba City, Calif., underwent transplant surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, a 14-hour procedure that began just before midnight on March 4 and concluded at 2:30 p.m. the next day.

"It has been surreal to see that I have a hand again, and be able to wiggle my fingers. My 6-year-old daughter has never seen me with a hand," said Fennell, a single mother. "She looked at it, touched it and said it was 'cool.' "

Fennell was discharged from the hospital April 8 and will continue to stay near UCLA for two months for monitoring and occupational therapy.

"The patient's recovery from the procedure has gone extremely well, both psychologically and physically," said Dr. Kodi Azari, surgical director of the UCLA Hand Transplantation Program and an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and plastic surgery.

"She is making the emotional transition from calling it 'the' hand to 'my' hand," Azari said. "From a surgical standpoint, we achieved a good connection of the nerves and blood vessels, and the balance between the palm and back-of-the-hand tendons appears to be pristine."

Learn more about the hand transplantation procedure at http://handtransplant.ucla.edu
Join UCLA Health System on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/uclahealthsystem
Support the UCLA Hand Transplant Program by visiting https://giving.ucla.edu/handtransplant

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• hand transplant
• ucla hand surgery
• first hand transplant
• Dr. Kodi Azari
• Dr. Sue McDiarmid

[UCLAHealth]

Thank you all for watching!

[ZOMLUVER]

This is awesome!

[pow339]

wow you docters are amazing and you are outstanding people

[TheWhisperingNutSack]

Damn the moms hotter than the daughter >:D

[pantyflash]

Like, we've really got to hand it to those doctors for doing such an awesome job. Let's all celebrate and give them a big hand. You go, girl!

[Mrspeddy3]

@Rel7eGaDe I agree

[Rel7eGaDe]

@scotlandsimon except that there is no such things as gods... religion is a lie.. and you're trying to push your bullshit on us.. each time you comment you talk about your fictionary friend.. grow up..

[scotlandsimon]

@Rel7eGaDe i have no problem,you the one who don't believe,to find out what doctors find nowadays we use our human brain which god gave to us,if you ask why god didn't give us all the knowledge at once,so why we are here,this is our jop ,to try to make this world better.

[Rel7eGaDe]

@CainmosniMirrored yet this is your opinion, not her opinion... based on what, a story of a guy that you heard from another guy...

[CainmosniMirrored]

@Rel7eGaDe An organ donation is entirely different. It is to save someones life. It gives someone who would otherwise die the chance to continue living. A hand transplant is cosmetic surgery. It is not a life saving procedure and gives the patient a plethora of health problems that they otherwise would not have. Bionics does not. Bionics does not require surgery or drugs or years of follow up treatment.

[CainmosniMirrored]

@Rel7eGaDe The first guy to ever receive a hand transplant has had the donor hand removed because he said it felt like a dead mans hand. I guarantee this woman will have a similar fate. It's a psychological thing. It is not natural. There is a reason the body rejects the donor hand, it knows it doesn't belong. She will have to take anti rejection drugs the rest of her life and endanger the life she has left. She would be healthier of body and mind with a bionic hand.

[Rel7eGaDe]

@scotlandsimon medicine evolved with days.. it took research to find out what we know today. dont push your lies on us.. if you believe in a old grey-beard guy living in the sky it's your problem..

[Rel7eGaDe]

@CainmosniMirrored those kind of things are nice to the people that needs them, it's not yours to decide if it should be banned... now get back in your tiny box..