Hand Surgery for Harry is a Miracle

A drug overdose in 2015 put Harry Perks perilously close to losing his life. For 3 ½ long minutes, his brain was deprived of oxygen leading to irreversible brain damage.

Since then, both Harry and his family have traveled a slow and painful road to recovery with many setbacks. Harry, 43 who is by all accounts a fighter, worked hard on his speech and motor skills but never regained the use of his hands, especially his right hand which was bent like a claw.

Years of therapy, bracing and exercises yielded some improvements which plateaued. Harry then began getting Botox injections from his physiatrist Dr. Jonah Green at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull in Brooklyn. This helped him regain control in his lower extremities and left hand which made walking and getting around much easier.

But the Botox was not working for his right hand, so Dr. Green referred Harry to a hand surgeon Dr. Eitan Melamed at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst in Queens.

What followed was a 3-hour, highly specialized surgery to both lengthen the contracted muscles and decrease the exaggerated muscle tone permanently. The procedure, known as “selective neurectomy” involves cutting nerve branches that contribute to the uncoordinated motion and excess tone of the contracted muscles, diminishing these abnormalities and improving overall function.

Four months later when Harry came for his follow-up, he had his right hand back.

Read the full story here: https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org....