Give her a hand

Before a car accident five years ago destroyed her right hand, there were so many little things Emily Fennell took for granted: putting her hair in a ponytail, playing blocks with her toddler, giving her daughter a two-handed bear hug. Afterwards, the formerly right-handed Fennell had to learn to do everything from tying her shoes to writing to driving her car with just her left hand. But now Fennell has a transplant, a donated “new” hand attached to her own skin, bones, nerves and  tendons by a surgical team from the University of California, Los Angeles. “It has been surreal to see that I have a hand again, and to be able to wiggle my fingers,” says the 26-year-old single mom from Yuba City, Calif. “My 6-year-old daughter has never seen me with a right hand. She looked at it, touched it and said it was cool.”