LOS ANGELES — For the first time in five years, Emily Fennell has two hands. The 26- year-old single mom showed off her newly donated hand Tuesday while flanked by a team of transplant doctors. She admitted she’s still getting used to it.
“I do feel like it’s mine. Slowly but surely, every day it becomes more and more mine,” she said.
Fennell received the donor limb in a marathon surgery last month at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. She had been living with a prosthetic limb but wanted a hand transplant to better care for her daughter.
The transplant was the 13th such case in the U.S. and the first for the hospital.
Fennell’s right hand was crushed in 2006 in a rollover accident in which her hand went through an open sunroof.
She was able to move her new fingers soon after surgery. It could take up to a year before she can feel anything.
