Hand transplant 'surreal' to young mom

Video: Hand transplant restores a mother’s touch

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   >>> thanks to advances in medicine and science, transplants of organs like the heart and kidney have become common. now some of the same advances are being applied to one of the most complex pieces of the body -- the hand. kristen welker is at ucla medical center with a look at the first transplant on the west coast . good morning.

   >> reporter: good morning. the recipient is emily fennel, a young mother from northern california . her family said she's an inspiration. doctors call her a pioneer.

   >> open up.

   >> reporter: what seems like child play to most is a major milestone for 26-year-old emily .

   >> now you're showing off.

   >> reporter: emily has only had this right hand for six weeks. she's the firsthand transplant recipient at ucla medical center . in 2006 emily was a single mother to 14-month-old hannah. but everything changed when a car crash crushed her right hand. doctors couldn't save it.

   >> emotionally, what was the hardest part of the period for you?

   >> not being able to care for my daughter. she wanted mom and mommy couldn't do everything for her.

   >> reporter: but ucla announced a new hand transplant program and emily jumped at the chance despite the risks.

   >> the most serious is a severe infection we couldn't control.

   >> reporter: less than a month after getting on the list, emily gets the call on a friday afternoon. a donor hand is available. get to ucla medical center right away. from that moment on it's a race against time .

   >> time is of the essence because there is a period where the hand doesn't have blood flow.

   >> reporter: the donor hand arrives at the hospital as emily is prepped for surgery. after a last hug from her mom, emily is wheeled into the operating room. the surgery involves more than just skin grafts and stitches. transplant surgeons also have to attach two bones, two arteries, four veins and as many as 20 tendons to complete the procedure.

   >> the you try moving it?

   >> reporter: the initial signs are good.

   >> you moved your finger!

   >> reporter: for emily 's mother, it's hard to believe.

   >> when you have a child, one of the first questions a mom asks is do they have all their fire extinguisher rs and toes and she did when she was born. then that was taken away by a tragic accident.

   >> reporter: now emily is getting her life back. she spends five hours a day in occupational therapy . even a simple hug with her daughter turns into a small victory.

   >> i think she really likes that i can hold her with two hands now. it's important to be able to do that with your child.

   >> reporter: emily sayses for the first time in a long time, she feels whole. now, emily could ultimately have about 80% usage of the new hand. she has joined a very exclusive group of people. there have been only 14 hand transplants nationwide. meredith?

   >> kristen welker, thank you very much. emily fennel is with us from the ucla campus along with her surgeon, dr. azare. good morning to you both.

   >> good morning.

   >> it was such a wonderful image to see you hold your daughter with both hands. it's been a little more than six weeks since the transplant surgery . how much flexibility do you have in this new hand?

   >> right now, i can wiggle the fingers and after i'm in hand therapy for a couple of hours in the morning i can pick up different objects with it.

   >> do you have any sensation yet in the hand itself?

   >> not yet. i won't have sensation for probably close to a year. the nerves take the longest to regenerate. so sensation will come back last.

   >> reporter: this all happened so quickly for you, em. did you have time to think about the repercussions or the possible risks involved to seriously consider? because you're on the anti-rejection meds you run the risk of even a slight infection could be fatal. did it cause you hesitation in making the decision?

   >> absolutely. i started looking into the program last summer. i looked into all of the immunosuppression drugs. i discussed it with the family. one of my sisters is a nurse, so i got her opinion as well. we looked into it extensively before we made the decision to go ahead with the program.

   >> doctor --

   >> we decided that me being made whole again was more important than the -- the benefits outweighed the risks.

   >> this was a 14-hour procedure. extremely complicated. what made this young woman such a good candidate? made emily a good candidate for the surgery?

   >> it wasn't just for the surgery. you have to be healthy to undergo this operation and not really have other medical problemses to make the condition worse. with emily , it was her determination and her level of understanding, not just about the procedure, but about herself and what she's capable of that made her the absolute perfect candidate.

   >> why a hand transplant versus a prosthetic device?

   >> well, this operation is not for everyone. this operation is designed for the person that has reso socovered from the initial trauma of the amputation. both physically meaning the wounds have healed and psychologically meaning there is no post traumatic stress or other psychological conditions. in our program they must have tried a prosthetic device for at least six months. emily tried that and she can speak more to it, but this program is designed for people that find prosthetic devices un unsatisfactory for the levels they wish to attain.

   >> emily , your daughter was just 14 months when you had this terrible car accident and you lost your right hand. she's really only known you as the mom that had one hand. how was she reacting to the new mom?

   >> you know, she referred to me as my stump was considered the special hand. at first she was hesitant to mom having a surgery because i was special. now that i have a second hand she says, mommy, it's cool. she can't wait for me to do more things to teach her to tie her shoes, play catch with her in the yard, to go swimming in the summertime. in a 6-year-old mind it's hard to understand, but she thinks it's cool.

   >> i know you were able to make her a necklace and bracelet which you couldn't have done before with just the left hand . doctor, do you envision this kind of surgery will be as routine as transplanting a kidney, heart or lung some day?

   >> you know, i do envision that day. that's really -- this is really the beginning. meredith, we are at the frontier. we are at the forefront of a new frontier in medicine that's reconstructive transplantation surgery. emily is a pioneer delving into this brave new field. i do think down the line we will be able to do that. it's going to take time, of course, like any other transplant. but we'll get there some day. this opens up new arenas for reconstructive surgery to be able to reconstruct life tissue with life tissue. there is no life tissue for the hand. there is no life tissue for the face. this gives us a chance to reconstruct defects secondary to cancer, trauma or congenital defects , birth defects .

   >> i know of concern to you is wounded vets from the wars. thank you so much.

   >> thank you.

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