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On Jan. 24, 1999, doctors performed the nation’s first hand transplant at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky. (The world’s first successful hand transplant took place last September in Lyons, France.) Hospital spokeswoman Barbara Keane says the patient, Matt Scott, is adjusting well; he shows no signs of rejection and can even open and close his new hand.

Scott did not have to pay for the procedure, but Keane estimates that the operation, first year of rehabilitation, and medication will cost about $150,000. Over the next three months, Scott will attend physical therapy sessions six days a week to gain strength and a greater range of motion in his hand. He must also take a combination of drugs, including three immunosuppressants, which will cost $24,000 per year. Scott, like all other transplant recipients, will require varying doses of these drugs for the rest of his life, or as long as he has the hand.

The large number of amputee soldiers returning from World War II sparked the demand for modern American prosthetic science. Since then, biomedical engineers have developed a variety of prosthetic limbs that afford increasing comfort and mobility. Hand amputees can choose from cosmetic silicone models (starting at $1,500), which look real but offer no mobility; body-powered prostheses (about $10,000), which offer limited motion capabilities; and electrically powered prostheses (starting at $15,000), which allow a broad range of motion and a stronger grip. Attachments are available for fishing, swimming, and other activities (a “pool shooter” costs between $500 and $1,000). Obligatory biannual checkups start at $150. There are approximately 10,000 new upper-limb amputees each year, about half of whom purchase prosthetic replacements.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

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In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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