The Best Thing That Happened This Week: Zion Harvey’s First Pitch

When last we heard of Zion Harvey, in July 2015, he was eight years old and had just become the first child in the world ever to receive a double hand transplant, from a CHOP team led by surgeon L. Scott Levin. (A bit of backstory: Zion had both his hands and both feet amputated when he was two because of a bloodstream infection. His mom, Pattie Ray, donated a kidney to him when he was four, which, ironically, made him a prime candidate for the groundbreaking hand transplant, since he was already on anti-rejection drugs.) Zion stayed in our mind because, jeez, what a lot to have to cope with at such a young age, and he managed to do it, according to Levin, with remarkable fortitude: “I’ve never once seen him cry, complain of pain or be withdrawn.” Well, we cried on Wednesday, when we watched this video of Zion, new hands and all, throwing out the first pitch at a Baltimore Orioles game. A story like his puts all the sturm und drang of this sorry summer into perspective. Long may he wave.

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