California woman to show off newly transplanted hand

The Northern California woman received the donor limb in a marathon surgery last month at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Doctors who will introduce the woman at a news conference Tuesday said she was living with a prosthetic and wanted a hand transplant to better care for her daughter.

During the 14½-hour operation, a team of nearly 20 surgeons, nurses and support staff grafted a hand from a deceased donor onto the patient and intricately connected bones, blood vessels, nerves and tendons.

The transplant was the 13th such case in the United States and the first for the hospital.

The patient was able to move her fingers soon after the surgery. She faces several months of rehabilitation and has to take drugs for the rest of her life to prevent rejection.