Yuba City woman, recipient of hand transplant, to wave from Rose Parade Float

Sacramento Bee | Bill Lindelof

Emily Fennell of Yuba City said she looks forward to waving from a Rose Parade float with either hand this year.

"I'm very excited about that," she said of the prospect of ambidextrous waving to the crowd from the Donate Life float at the Rose Parade on Jan. 2.

Fennell lost her right hand as a result of a rollover accident in 2006. Nine months ago, the office assistant became the West Coast's first hand-transplant patient, according to transplant experts. Fennell, 26, is so accustomed to her new right hand, she can barely remember when she didn't have one."It's so second nature to have a right hand again," she said.Fennell was a passenger in the front seat of a car that clipped the back of another vehicle on June 11, 2006, in Hermosa Beach. 

During the accident, her right hand was caught between her vehicle and the road, according to information from UCLA Health System Transplantation Services.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/23/4141632/yuba-city-woman-recipient-of-hand.html#storylink=cpy