Zion Harvey, The 9 Year Old That Threw Out The First Pitch For The Orioles, Is About To Give You All The Feels

Tonight, Zion Harvey, the first child in the world to undergo a bilateral hand transplant, threw the first pitch.https://t.co/wuk5Qsr90Q

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 3, 2016

USWeekly- Way to go! Zion Harvey, the first child in the world to have a double hand transplant, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Baltimore Orioles game on Tuesday, August 2.

According to ESPN, Zion, 9, needed to amputate his arms and legs because of a life-threatening infection at the age of 2. He underwent the more-than-10-hour double hand transplant at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in July 2015. He later had a kidney transplant.

Zion worked hard leading up to his big day. "He has spent the last year working to regain hand function," the game's announcer said, "and the ability to throw a baseball through rigorous hand therapy sessions."



As long as you ignore the fact that a 9 year old - who bounced in a first pitch from halfway between the mound and the plate - just one upped every single one of our athletic careers then this is as "feel good" as stories get. Impossible not to have a smile on your face and a tear creeping up into your eye after watching a kid that overcame the amputation of his hands and lower legs - through the help of modern science and his own undying will - get in front of thousands upon thousands of people and throw a baseball. Talk about the ultimate sign of perseverance. Disease did all it could to beat the life out of this kid before he turned three and he's out there at nine looking like any other kid his age. Just wheeling on a Major League baseball diamond like the world didn't deal him pair of hands that needed replacement. Smiling ear-to-ear like he hasn't spent the entirety of his youth battling against an eye-opening amount of hardships. We could all learn a little something from Zion Harvey because I wouldn't have even known there was anything special about this kid by looking at him, and that's a testament to his indestructible determination. If only the life threatening infection whose ass he kicked could see him now...

P.S. More on his personal story if you have the time...