Hand Transplant Recipient Can Finally Applaud Ground-Breaking Surgery Health Consultant

Hand Transplant Recipient Can Finally Applaud Ground-Breaking Surgery

A near-fatal auto accident in June, 2006 that resulted from a collision and rollover had cost Emily her right hand as it was crushed and mangled outside the open sunroof of her vehicle. Due to the extent of the injuries she suffered, her hand was amputated just above the wrist.

Emily was interviewed by Shari Roan of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote a detailed summary of her meeting with Emily. Selective aspects of that report follow in this story.

Looking back at that trying time in her life, Emily shared a profound thought as she stated, “About a week after the accident, my mom said, ‘You can be the kind of person who says, ‘Woe is me’ and gives up, or you can say, ‘This sucks, but I’m moving on.’ I chose that one.”

Emily was subsequently fitted with a bulky prosthesis that she subsequently wore for five years. During that time, she instinctively learned and adapted to use her left hand for many routine tasks and finally concluded the prosthesis was not a workable or optimal solution.

About a year ago, a friend that is also an amputee, told her about the radically new surgical procedure she had read about to transplant a hand. Ms. Fennell began to research it on her own and reconnected with her surgeons.

This past February, Emily was evaluated at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where she was accepted into a newly founded transplant program, and placed on a waiting list. In early March of this year, a donor from San Diego was identified as a potential match for Emily.

On March 5, 2011, a team of 17 surgeons meticulously worked for 14 hours to attach Emily’s new right hand by matching 23 tendons, two bones, two arteries and several nerves. Dr. Kodi Azari, surgical director of the Hand Transplant Program at UCLA, explained his excitement at having found a good match. He stated, “It was identical. The color match was perfect. The size match was perfect. The blood group match was perfect.”

The surgery to provide Emily Fennell a new hand via transplant, was the first of its kind in California and the greater western United States. She is now the 13th hand transplant recipient in the United States.

After having spent another 8-hour day at UCLA undergoing Occupational Therapy, Fennell remarked, “It’s crazy how good it looks.” She went on to say, “I knew the match wouldn’t be perfect, but if you didn’t know what happened, you’d think I just had some kind of orthopedic surgery.”

After going through six weeks of intense physical therapy to utilize and regain muscle memory for her new hand, Fennell states, “That’s my goal – to just be able to function with it and not be able to think about it.” It will likewise take months for the nerves to reattach as they grow approximately one millimeter a day. Once the nerve growth becomes advanced, Emily should begin to experience feeling and sensation in her new hand.

In a supportive mindset, Emily states, “The hand is connected to me. It’s mine. But until I have feeling in it, it’s not going to feel like mine.”

In the words of Emily’s surgeon, Dr. Azari, he summed it up best as he stated, “She is self-assured. You can see this amazing determination in her. That, to me, is the most important characteristic.”

Below is a video from UCLA that chronicles Emily’s journey:

Image credit: DailyBruin.com

You can reach Michael Cerkas via email at mcerkas@gmail.com

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