US boy with double-hand transplant leaves hospital

As Dr. L. Scott Levin holds his hand, double-hand transplant recipient eight-year-old Zion Harvey moves his fingers during a news conference Tuesday, July 28, 2015, at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in Philadelphia. Surgeons said Harvey of Baltimore who lost his limbs to a serious infection, has become the youngest patient to receive a double-hand transplant. AP Photo

BALTIMORE, United States—An 8-year-old boy who became the youngest patient to receive a double-hand transplant has left the Philadelphia hospital where the procedure was done and was returning to his Maryland home.

Ashley Moore, spokeswoman for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said in an email that Zion Harvey was discharged Wednesday and was going to his home in Owings Mills, Maryland, a Baltimore suburb.

Zion, who lost his hands and feet to an infection, underwent the 11-hour operation in July. Moore said after a week in the pediatric intensive care unit, Zion was moved to a medical unit and then to an inpatient rehabilitation unit.

Zion will continue to receive therapy on an outpatient basis.