A granny who had both hands and legs amputated due to sepsis is on queue for an incredible double hand transplant, the bucks herald reports.
Two hands from a deceased donor will be attached to the wrists of Kim Smith and surgeons will meticulously join together every nerve and tendon as reported by the Milton Keynes citizen
It is a 10-hour operation and can be held any day from now at a hospital in Leeds. The 61-year-old said: “They’ll work just like any other hands. I’ll be able to hold things and bend my fingers just like anyone else”.
“I can’t wait,” she added. “And I will be forever grateful to the donor”.
The former hairdresser and wedding planner almost lost her life to sepsis five years ago. In order for her to survive, doctors had to amputate both her legs above the knee as well as her hands.
“I still have a wrist on one arm but the other was amputated above the wrist. The surgeons are hoping to sew the hand on with the wrist on that arm,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to being able to do so many things with my new hands. The thing I miss the most is cooking and I long to be able to cook for my family again. I’m ever hoping I’ll be able to do hairdressing again.
“My husband Steve has said he’ll but me another wedding and engagement ring to celebrate having hands again!”
Kim, who lives on Walnut Tree, has prosthetic hands but says she finds them of limited help that she does not bother wearing them.
She was asked by doctors if she would accept hands from a male donor to cut down her waiting time.
“I said no. I didn’t want to be looking at my hands for years to come and thinking they looked male. I’d rather wait a bit longer for female hands,” she said.
Only eight such hand transplants have been carried out in the UK and one of the first was on Cor Hutton from Scotland in 2019. Her progress was hailed as “phenomenal by doctors and she has more than 90% function in her new fingers.
Doctors say the gran-of-three, Kim is an ideal candidate for the procedure.
IMAGE SOURCE:MKcitizens
