A quadruple amputee is looking forward to being able to open her own Christmas presents this year at last after receiving the ‘gift’ of a hand transplant.
Kim Smith, 64, had her hands and her legs amputated after contracting an infection and then getting sepsis while on holiday in Alicante in Spain in 2017.
She was later put on a UK waiting list for a double hand transplant and this year received a new, working left hand.
Kim, a former hairdresser from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, said: ‘This year, I will be able to help prepare the Boxing Day dinner and open my own Christmas presents.
‘Christmas is a time where you’re all together. I can’t wait to be able to be with my family and be able to do things with my hand.
‘Before, it would be boring for me. I used to have to sit and let everybody else do it. Before the amputations, all the family would come here and we’d have a meal together.
‘Now I’m so much more independent than I was before. It’s incredible.’
Kim and her family are eating at their favourite restaurant on Christmas Day but are getting into the festive spirit.
Kim Smith, from Milton Keynes, suffered a quadruple amputation and is looking forward to her first Christmas with her new hand following a transplant
Earlier this year, Kim was received the gift of a working left hand after being on a UK waiting list for a double hand transplant
Kim has now become naturally left-handed – despite her right side being dominant before
She added: ‘My husband, Steve, has bought me a new designer handbag so I’m looking forward to getting that and a new purse.
‘We’re going to go shopping to buy me new wedding and engagement rings as my new hand is slighter larger.
‘The rings I’m wearing now are from Claire’s accessories as I was warned my hand might swell up.
‘I’m taking each day at a time. I used my blow-dryer brush for the first time this month.
‘I picked it up and thought, ‘Oh my God, I can actually do it.’ It’s a lot of firsts at the minute.’ Kim had initially undergone a 14-hour double hand transplant operation but, sadly, the operation on the right hand was not successful.
She has now become naturally left-handed – despite her right side being dominant before.
Kim is an ambassador for Sepsis Research FEAT and a volunteer for the UK Sepsis Trust. She said: ‘Sepsis either kills you, leaves you as a quad amputee or, at the very least, leaves you with post-sepsis syndrome.
‘It’s vital we raise awareness so everybody knows to get treatment as quickly as possible.
‘I didn’t know that, even though we are automatically opted in for donation, your family will be asked for their consent to donate your limbs. It’s so important that people speak to their families to tell them their wishes. My family know that if they can use anything of mine, they can have it.
‘Raising awareness of sepsis saved me from my dark depression because I could see people were listening to me and I know I’m helping.’
Kim is urging people to familiarise themselves with the signs of sepsis and the donation process.
She added: ‘If you were dying and needed a liver or heart, you would want the donation.
‘If you’re in the situation where your life is gone, let someone else have your organs and let them live on. If limbs could be donated as well, that would change somebody’s life like mine.’
