9-year-old double-hand transplant recipient delivers a first-pitch strike

Last summer, Zion Harvey was in a hospital bed in Philadelphia recovering from a double-hand transplant.

Tuesday night, the 9-year-old who was the first child in the world to undergo the complicated surgery was throwing pitches at a Major League Baseball game.

Zion, who lives in the Baltimore area, threw the first pitch at Tuesday’s Orioles-Texas Rangers game. Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, who said he has kept tabs on the boy, caught the ball.

“Zion Harvey is a trooper,” Jones told orioles.com. “And the pitch he threw I might’ve chased.”

Zion underwent the 11-hour surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia last July. At age 2, a bloodstream infection had required his hands and feet to be amputated. Before Zion, no child had ever received even a single hand transplant, but he was an especially suitable candidate for the surgery because he was already taking antirejection drugs after a kidney transplant, which he underwent at age 4.

He was released from the hospital late last August, but expected to undergo outpatient rehabilitation therapy for as long as two years.

This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 11:05 AM with the headline "9-year-old double-hand transplant recipient delivers a first-pitch strike."