Milton Keynes gran due to have one of of UK's first double human hand transplants

A gran who had both hands and legs amputated due to sepsis is on the waiting list for an incredible double hand transplant any day now.

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.

"They’ll work just like any other hands. I’ll be able to hold things and bend my fingers just like anyone else,” said 61-year-old Kim.

She could get the call any day now and have to rush to a hospital in Leeds for the 10 hour operation.

"I can’t wait,” she said. “And I will be forever grateful to the donor.

A former hairdresser and wedding planner Kim almost lost her life to sepsis exactly 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 such a 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 gran-of-three Kim is an ideal candidate for the procedure.

But only one thing is marring her hope of a bright future – finding a suitable wheelchair accessible home in which to enjoy her new hands.

"The council housed us in this bungalow on Walnut Tree but it’s not wheelchair friendly. The rooms are too small and there’s no room for my chair to turn in the bathroom or kitchen so I can’t be truly independent, even with my new hands.

"There’s only room for a single bed in my bedroom, or else my chair won’t fit. So I can’t even sleep in the same room as my husband after we’ve been together for 28 years,” she said.

Kim is currently considering challenging MK City Council for better housing in a legal action under disability discrimination laws.