Boy with world's first double-hand transplant celebrates one year on

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A nine-year-old boy who received the world's first double-hand transplant has celebrated a year since surgery.

Zion Harvey, from Philadelphia, was just two-years-old when he had both hands and feet amputated, as well as undergoing a kidney transplant following a serious infection.

In August 2015, surgeons at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Penn Medicine and Shriner's Hospital for Children, conducted the world's first bilateral hand and forearm transplant.

Since then, Zion has spent eight hours a day in rehabilitation, gaining strength and flexibility in his muscles and tendons.

At a press conference on Tuesday, his mother Pattie Ray said: "It's been an amazing journey.

"It's not over - it's only a year out, it's only feels like yesterday that this transplant took place.

"It still feels surreal. His his dream, but it's mine too. I am his biggest, biggest, biggest, ultimate fan - outside of being his mother."

His occupational therapists, Lindsey Harris and Gayle Gross, were initially concerned how they could "balance the functional side of therapy with the more biomechanical and neurological side to maintain supple joint motion".

However, they found a way to "make it fun and exciting for him" and "quickly learned Zion’s interest in sports and tapped into that".

As a result, he was recently able to throw the ceremonial first pitch at an Orioles baseball game earlier this month.

Doctors have said he will receive specialist care throughout his life, as well as daily medication to prevent his body from rejecting his new limbs.

The chief of staff at Shriners Hospital, Scott Kozin said: "Zion's progress has been spectacular, highlighting what can be accomplished by the committed and coordinated collaborative effort amongst multi-disciplinary teams."