Zion Harvey has spent the last year getting used to his new hands, and on Tuesday night the nine-year-old threw out the first pitch at the MLB’s Baltimore Orioles game.
Harvey has been through a lot in his young life — last year the boy underwent a double hand transplant, the youngest patient to ever do so.
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The Maryland boy contracted sepsis as a toddler. The resulting multiple organ failure forced the amputation of his hands and feet; by age four, he needed a kidney transplant and received the organ from his mother.
He uses leg prosthetics, and previously went about his days using his forearms to write, play and eat.
Last July, after an 11-hour surgery with a 40-person medical team, Harvey got new hands.
This week the boy, who has undergone rigorous physical therapy since the surgery, showed off his incredible progress and threw the ceremonial first pitch for the Baltimore Orioles.
While the boy didn’t speak with media Tuesday, last year he said the first things he wanted to do with his new hands was play on the monkey bars and throw a football.
With a file from the Associated Press
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