In Safe Hands: Kim's Journey with Leeds Hand Transplant Team
In this episode of 'In Safe Hands,' host Caroline Verdon introduces Kim Smith, a patient on the waiting list for a hand transplant. Kim shares her life story, including losing her limbs to sepsis, and her determination to undergo a hand transplant. The discussion touches on the process, challenges, and emotional rollercoaster of waiting for a suitable donor. Kim's positive outlook and determination to regain independence are highlighted as she anticipates how the transplant will transform her life.
Produced by Under the Mast, this episode provides an insight into the resilience and determination needed on the journey to new limbs. The podcast is presented by Caroline Verdon
You can find out more about hand and upper limb transplants at LEEDS TEACHING HOSPITALS NHS TRUST here
00:00 Introduction to Leeds Hand Transplant Team
00:54 Kim Smith's Journey Before Sepsis
01:39 Life After Sepsis and Adjusting to Changes
03:03 Discovering Hand Transplants
04:11 The Long Process of Getting on the Waiting List
05:57 The Emotional Rollercoaster of Waiting for a Match
11:31 Hopes and Aspirations Post-Transplant
21:10 Preparing for the Transplant
23:38 Conclusion and Upcoming Episode Preview
In Safe Hands, stories from Leeds
Caroline Verdon:pioneering hand transplant team.
Caroline Verdon:Coming up in this episode.
Kim Smith:I've lost five stones since I went on the waiting list.
Kim Smith:And I want to be the fittest and healthiest that I can be to receive those
Kim Smith:hands and to then do those hands justice and prove that family they did the right
Kim Smith:thing by, by helping me change my life.
Kim Smith:by giving me that
Kim Smith:wonderful gift.
Caroline Verdon:Hello and thank you for joining us.
Caroline Verdon:I'm Caroline Verdon and on this week's episode we meet Kim.
Caroline Verdon:Now we've talked a bit previously about the process from considering
Caroline Verdon:the possibility of maybe having a hand transplant to then actually receiving one.
Caroline Verdon:It takes a minimum of a year for tests, for psychological evaluations before you
Caroline Verdon:can actually then be added to the official waiting list and then it really is just A
Caroline Verdon:wait until a suitable donor hand is found.
Caroline Verdon:Now one of the patients on the waiting list hoping for a transplant is Kim Smith.
Kim Smith:Oh gosh, my life before sepsis, um, I was a busy working
Kim Smith:woman, um, very independent.
Kim Smith:Um, I had two businesses.
Kim Smith:I worked seven days a week.
Kim Smith:I was constantly on the go and just extremely busy.
Kim Smith:And then.
Kim Smith:I decided that I wanted to kind of take it a little bit easier.
Kim Smith:Um, we bought a villa in Spain and we were out there on holiday
Kim Smith:when I then developed sepsis.
Kim Smith:So I ended up losing the businesses cause I couldn't work.
Kim Smith:I mean, I can't cut hair if I haven't got hands and my other wedding
Kim Smith:business I gave to my daughter.
Kim Smith:But then when I got the sepsis and lost my limbs.
Kim Smith:she gave that up and just became my carer.
Caroline Verdon:So it's been a complete change of lifestyle.
Caroline Verdon:Absolutely.
Caroline Verdon:Yeah.
Caroline Verdon:Now I sit on my backside doing nothing all day.
Caroline Verdon:And am I right that it, that it's affected
Caroline Verdon:Hands and legs.
Caroline Verdon:Yes, yeah, I've lost my hands.
Kim Smith:The right arm is slightly shorter.
Kim Smith:And I've lost my legs quite far up above the knee.
Caroline Verdon:And do you
Caroline Verdon:use
Caroline Verdon:prosthetics?
Kim Smith:Um, I've got them, but I don't use them.
Kim Smith:My bungalow is so small, it's hard for me to walk around on
Kim Smith:them in here, to even practice.
Kim Smith:It just became too difficult for me.
Kim Smith:And I just thought, what's the point?
Kim Smith:Because I'm having to push a walker.
Kim Smith:It's not easy.
Kim Smith:Um, and as far as prosthetic arms, I had an NHS Myer Electric, but it
Kim Smith:was so heavy, the NHS, so I bought a private one that cost 15,000 pounds.
Kim Smith:Yeah, and that's just sat in the box because I've got a cup here
Kim Smith:and I can't even pick that up.
Kim Smith:It called my water and it doesn't even pick that up.
Kim Smith:I'm just easier to do it with my stumps.
Kim Smith:I just find things easier to do with my stumps.
Kim Smith:So.
Kim Smith:I just don't wear them.
Caroline Verdon:When did you find out about hand transplants?
Kim Smith:You've probably
Kim Smith:spoken to a Cor Hutton.
Kim Smith:I was friends with her on Facebook and I then saw that she posted she'd had a
Kim Smith:double hand transplant and I commented and went, Oh, you're a very brave lady.
Kim Smith:I couldn't do that.
Kim Smith:There's just no way I could do that.
Kim Smith:And then about a year later, my daughter tried to pass me
Kim Smith:something, and I went like that.
Kim Smith:Put my arm right behind me, and I could touch it with my arm, and I went, well,
Kim Smith:if only I had a hand, I could take that.
Kim Smith:She said to me, there's your answer, Mum.
Kim Smith:That got the old cogs working in the brain, and I'm like,
Kim Smith:yeah, do you know what?
Kim Smith:I'm going to speak to Cor.
Kim Smith:So I phoned Cor.
Kim Smith:I asked her lots of questions.
Kim Smith:And I came off the phone and I went, that's it, I'm phoning the doctor.
Kim Smith:I want it done.
Kim Smith:I want the hand transplant.
Kim Smith:I said, after speaking to Cor, I do want it done, but that's got
Kim Smith:to be 2020 that I started the
Kim Smith:process.
Caroline Verdon:Because the process is, is long, isn't it?
Caroline Verdon:It's not a case of, yeah, I've decided I'd, I'd like a transplant, brilliant,
Caroline Verdon:immediately you're on a waiting list.
Kim Smith:My GP had
Kim Smith:to write to them and ask them.
Kim Smith:Then I have to wait for an appointment to see them.
Kim Smith:And then you, you have lots of appointments over a year.
Kim Smith:I think it was about 13 or 14 months from start to finish on
Kim Smith:the first appointment to being accepted to go on the waiting list.
Kim Smith:Lots of tests, lots of consultations, lots of psychiatrist appointments,
Kim Smith:um, lots of meetings with the team.
Kim Smith:There's a lot involved and it does take time before they can accept me.
Kim Smith:They need to make sure, obviously, that I'm mentally stable enough
Kim Smith:to be able to accept that.
Kim Smith:You need to be mentally strong enough to realise that those hands aren't
Kim Smith:going to be yours and they're not going to look like yours and they're
Kim Smith:not going to do the same as what yours did, even though they will do more
Kim Smith:than what you can do with nothing.
Kim Smith:The, it, it took a lot of thinking about, and then again about what color,
Kim Smith:um, you have to think, well, could I, could I have a darker person's arms on
Kim Smith:a hands on my arms and that, you know, I do go quite dark skinned in the sun.
Kim Smith:So I was quite happy to go down fairly dark.
Kim Smith:I was quite Happy if they were just white, because I thought, well, if
Kim Smith:they're really bottle white, I'll just put some fake tan on them if it
Kim Smith:bothers me, do you know what I mean?
Kim Smith:It's just try and tone them in a bit.
Kim Smith:So yeah, there was a lot involved.
Kim Smith:And even now with, I've had 13 calls so far and every time, and
Kim Smith:that's 14 actual offers too, like chances, because one call, there
Kim Smith:were two in one day, the first one.
Kim Smith:Didn't give consent.
Kim Smith:The second one wasn't a match, but there was still two on that same day.
Kim Smith:So I class that as 14 possibilities.
Kim Smith:And every time I get a call, I start getting a bit excited.
Kim Smith:And then I'm like, no, calm yourself down.
Kim Smith:It's probably a no again, because that very first call, I wasn't expecting it.
Kim Smith:It was a Sunday afternoon.
Kim Smith:It was about 5 PM.
Kim Smith:Roughly.
Kim Smith:Hubby had gone out to walk one of the dogs.
Kim Smith:And I'm just sat there and the call came in, she said we've got a possible match
Kim Smith:and I'm like, Oh, you know, I'm sort of jumping off my feet because I'm like,
Kim Smith:Oh my God, I wasn't expecting that.
Kim Smith:Hubby comes in and I'm trying to say to him, it's him, like it's Leeds, Hensford.
Kim Smith:And he's going, you're joking?
Kim Smith:Oh, and.
Kim Smith:Each time I've tried to sort of stay grounded and, you know, it
Kim Smith:was lovely because after that very first call, the next day,
Kim Smith:she phoned me to check I was okay.
Kim Smith:Um, are you okay?
Kim Smith:Because, you know, it wasn't a match and I'm so sorry.
Kim Smith:And I'm like, look, that is fine.
Kim Smith:I know that this is going to happen, I'd spoken to Cor, she told me she had 10
Kim Smith:calls and then she said, I told them to stop ringing me till they got a match.
Kim Smith:She said I didn't want to know.
Kim Smith:So I'm fully aware that's going to happen.
Kim Smith:So I said, please don't worry, it's fine.
Kim Smith:I've had 13 calls now and it still hasn't happened.
Kim Smith:And I had two within two days.
Kim Smith:And I've had two within a week, or just over a week.
Kim Smith:Um, so sometimes they come quite quickly, and you think, Oh, wow!
Kim Smith:And then you don't hear anything for quite a few months, and you say, Oh, well, I'll
Kim Smith:just go and do this and go and do that.
Kim Smith:And then you get a call and you think, Oh, God, am I going
Kim Smith:to be able to go and do that?
Kim Smith:What I've just booked to go and do now.
Caroline Verdon:Does it make you hesitant to ever turn your phone off?
Kim Smith:I don't ever turn it off anyway.
Kim Smith:I just put it on silent.
Kim Smith:Um, no, it was quite funny because, I was actually in a meeting with my daughter
Kim Smith:about my grandson with the school, I think it was back last year, and my phone
Kim Smith:kept going, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.
Kim Smith:Anyway, I didn't recognize the number because it was Prof phoning me, and I just
Kim Smith:kept cutting it off and cutting it off.
Kim Smith:Anyway, then I got a text, Prof needs to speak to you, and I'm like,
Kim Smith:Oh, I'm And then I, I just said to everybody in the meeting, I'm really
Kim Smith:sorry, but I need to step outside.
Kim Smith:This is a very important call.
Kim Smith:I've got to take it.
Kim Smith:And then I went outside and he explained they'd got a match.
Kim Smith:I think, I think it might've been that it had got tattoos or something.
Kim Smith:And that's why he was phoning to check me.
Kim Smith:Would I accept them?
Kim Smith:And I was like, yeah, yeah, it's fine.
Kim Smith:I don't care.
Kim Smith:I don't particularly want tattoos, but I want hands.
Kim Smith:I don't care if they've got tattoos.
Kim Smith:It's no biggie.
Kim Smith:I can cover them up with makeup if they bother me.
Kim Smith:I just want hands.
Kim Smith:And so.
Kim Smith:Stepped outside and took the call and it, that's the only time thankfully I've
Kim Smith:ever been anywhere where I've had to kind of excuse myself to take the call.
Kim Smith:But I did say to him.
Kim Smith:It's fine.
Kim Smith:I'm in the corridor.
Kim Smith:Even if they can hear me talking, they don't know what I'm talking about because
Kim Smith:it's coming through in my hearing aids.
Kim Smith:So although I'm saying, um, yes, I'll accept tattoos and things like that,
Kim Smith:no one knew what I was talking about.
Kim Smith:They didn't hear anything,
Kim Smith:which
Kim Smith:is good.
Kim Smith:And
Caroline Verdon:how about things like flights?
Caroline Verdon:Have you been abroad?
Kim Smith:I've done one flight, but um, As far as turning my phone off, I
Kim Smith:don't, I don't turn it off, I just leave it on, because if a call comes through,
Kim Smith:I want to be able to receive that call.
Kim Smith:Um, I do put it on silent if I'm in certain situations, but half the
Kim Smith:time I'll just quickly, because it's usually down the side of me, silence
Kim Smith:it on, yeah, by pressing the button.
Kim Smith:Um, depending
Kim Smith:where I am.
Caroline Verdon:You do strike me as a very positive person, but
Caroline Verdon:I suppose 24 hours a day, having to keep that positivity is hard.
Caroline Verdon:And you were saying you've been through 14 potentials, Oh, it's, it's happening.
Caroline Verdon:And then it, it, it doesn't happen, must be psychologically
Caroline Verdon:really difficult to, to deal with.
Caroline Verdon:I
Kim Smith:don't think it
Kim Smith:is for me.
Kim Smith:I mean, yes, I get excited because I think it might.
Kim Smith:I actually, because I do have to tell my daughter because I have to warn her.
Kim Smith:And she said the other day, I don't know how you cope with it, mum.
Kim Smith:She said, I find it such a rollercoaster.
Kim Smith:She said, you know, I get so excited for you and then it's like a real letdown and
Kim Smith:I'm like, don't let it get you down, Gem.
Kim Smith:It's fine.
Kim Smith:It's going to happen one day.
Kim Smith:And, and that's it.
Kim Smith:I just, I just know it will happen when the time's right.
Kim Smith:If it's meant to be, it will happen, and it's just not quite meant to
Kim Smith:be just yet, and it will happen.
Kim Smith:I
Kim Smith:know it will.
Caroline Verdon:One of the things that Prof was talking about was
Caroline Verdon:how there are conversations about how there's a belief that a heart
Caroline Verdon:transplant is life saving, whereas a hand transplant is life enhancing.
Caroline Verdon:How would you view it?
Kim Smith:Oh, it will definitely save my life.
Kim Smith:I mean, I don't like going out now.
Kim Smith:I don't like people looking at me.
Kim Smith:I tend to try not to look at people when I'm out because when I see
Kim Smith:them staring at me, I don't like it.
Kim Smith:And people do stare because they don't see quad amputees out very often.
Kim Smith:So yeah, it's hard, but for me it'll be life changing as well to actually
Kim Smith:be able to do things for myself again.
Kim Smith:There's nothing like wiping your own backside when you go to the toilet.
Kim Smith:I don't have hands, I can't do it.
Kim Smith:And so I have to rely on other people doing it.
Kim Smith:To get my own dignity back, to be able to do things like
Kim Smith:that again, are life changing.
Kim Smith:But it will be life changing and life saving to actually be able to
Kim Smith:go out in public and think, well, I've got a nice set of hands here,
Kim Smith:so they're not staring at those.
Kim Smith:It'll just be that my legs are missing.
Kim Smith:And I could do something about that if I wanted as well.
Kim Smith:Because they can do an artificial leg that's just like a big sock
Kim Smith:type thing that's kind of, I believe, like a foam sealed.
Kim Smith:Leg that you pull on and make it look like I've got legs
Kim Smith:that even have shoes on them.
Kim Smith:So I could do that if that bothered me, but I don't, the legs don't bother me.
Kim Smith:It's the hands because I see them looking at my hands more than anything.
Kim Smith:I just find it hard to cope with when people are staring at me.
Kim Smith:Cause some people they'll, they'll really, really stare and they'll follow you.
Kim Smith:They'll literally follow you as your chair's moving.
Kim Smith:And then they'll come back and take a second look as well.
Kim Smith:And I'm like, God, did you not just quickly look and just
Kim Smith:get an Eiffel and that's it?
Kim Smith:Did you not want to just turn away then?
Kim Smith:Yeah, it's really hard.
Kim Smith:And I'm quite strong.
Kim Smith:I've, I've tried to block it and tried to ignore it.
Kim Smith:And I know a lot of people can't, but for me, it will be life changing to
Kim Smith:be able to do things for myself again.
Kim Smith:Um, it was quite funny because I did ask the question because
Kim Smith:I used to be a hairdresser.
Kim Smith:I said, I'd love to be able to cut my mum's hair because I don't
Kim Smith:like the way she gets it cut now.
Kim Smith:And I said to Prof, will I ever be able to cut hair again?
Kim Smith:And he said, no, they won't be dexterous enough.
Kim Smith:And I thought, I'll give it a damn good go though.
Kim Smith:Oh, I will give it a damn good go.
Caroline Verdon:I love that.
Caroline Verdon:I love that.
Caroline Verdon:What things are you really looking forward to being able to do with with your hands?
Caroline Verdon:Obviously, you know, you said, I suppose that there must be an element of things
Caroline Verdon:that You want to do and things that you feel you need to be able to do.
Kim Smith:Yeah, I mean, obviously I'd like to be able to go and
Kim Smith:shower myself and go to the toilet by myself without having to have
Kim Smith:somebody come wipe my backside for me.
Kim Smith:Um, I am looking forward to getting back in the kitchen and my husband
Kim Smith:especially is looking forward to me getting back in the kitchen
Kim Smith:because he hates having to do it.
Kim Smith:I, I used to love cooking, baking, having dinner parties, that kind of thing.
Kim Smith:So I'd love to get back to being able to cook again.
Kim Smith:But even being able to blow dry my hair how I like it.
Kim Smith:I mean, I, I can, to a fashion, I can do it.
Kim Smith:I like how it is.
Kim Smith:I'd like it a bit longer and I can't grow it longer because
Kim Smith:I couldn't style it then.
Kim Smith:So I have to keep it shorter to be able to manage it.
Kim Smith:So it's things like that.
Kim Smith:You know, will help me so much more to shower in the, going to the toilet,
Kim Smith:the being able to do my hair myself, being able to cook, just being able
Kim Smith:to do everything for myself again.
Kim Smith:And I think, you know, even going and getting myself a glass of water, I, I have
Kim Smith:this drinking cup and I can't take the lid off of it so I can go in the fridge
Kim Smith:and I could get the bottle out and I could screw the lid off by using my teeth
Kim Smith:and then my arms and I could tip it in.
Kim Smith:But I can't get the lid off of that to be able to do that.
Kim Smith:I can't get in the freezer because I like ice in it.
Kim Smith:I can't get in the freezer to be able to get to the ice, and I wouldn't be able
Kim Smith:to get the ice out with my stumps either.
Kim Smith:So when I've got a hand, I can just grab it, chuck it in the cup.
Kim Smith:You know, things like that just make
Kim Smith:things so much easier.
Caroline Verdon:The things that I would really take for granted.
Kim Smith:We do, but this is it, we do because we've got them and
Kim Smith:till they're taken away you don't realize just how much you use them.
Kim Smith:You know, it was learning how to blow dry my hair again was really hard for me as a
Kim Smith:hairdresser and my hair was always, always good because I felt my hair needed to
Kim Smith:be good with my job and I had to have my face on, you know, I had to wear my makeup
Kim Smith:and I still do that because I feel that.
Kim Smith:I've done it for so long, I don't like looking at myself
Kim Smith:in the mirror without makeup.
Kim Smith:When I'm in hospital having the hand transplant, that's fine.
Kim Smith:I'm in hospital.
Kim Smith:I won't be looking in the mirror then too much and wondering what I look like.
Kim Smith:But when I come home and I, and I see myself without
Kim Smith:makeup, am I going to like it?
Kim Smith:Because for a while I'm not going to be able to use them.
Kim Smith:I know that.
Kim Smith:And I'm going to struggle, I think, for a little while with
Kim Smith:how am I going to do this?
Kim Smith:I need to find a new way.
Kim Smith:But trust me, I'll find a new way until those hands
Kim Smith:are working well enough to be able to do it with one hand.
Caroline Verdon:You are very determined.
Caroline Verdon:That's what you strike me as, a very determined person.
Kim Smith:Absolutely.
Kim Smith:Yeah.
Kim Smith:Everybody says that.
Kim Smith:Yeah.
Kim Smith:Absolutely.
Kim Smith:Very determined.
Kim Smith:You know, I found a way to blow dry my own hair.
Kim Smith:I found a way to do my own makeup.
Kim Smith:Um, I found a way to be able to make a cup of tea.
Kim Smith:I went and bought a special cup of tea.
Kim Smith:kettle that boils one cup at a time and releases it a bit like a coffee
Kim Smith:machine, how the water comes out of that.
Kim Smith:It's like that.
Kim Smith:So I can get the tea bag out of the caddy.
Kim Smith:I can put that in the cup.
Kim Smith:I can put my cup underneath.
Kim Smith:I can get the milk out of the fridge and I can put the milk in the, in
Kim Smith:the cup and I can make a cup of tea.
Kim Smith:No problem.
Kim Smith:My problem then comes, I can't carry it from the kitchen to the front room.
Kim Smith:So then hubby, he has to get up and do it.
Kim Smith:So I've made the tea, but you need to bring it in.
Kim Smith:So, you know, I try to do things.
Kim Smith:I try to be as independent as possible.
Kim Smith:It's quite funny because I took a new girl on just over a year ago, new PA.
Kim Smith:Gemma and Alison have been with me for a long time, but Julie started.
Kim Smith:just over a year ago.
Kim Smith:And she'd be keep trying to do things and I'm like it's fine
Kim Smith:I can do it myself thank you.
Kim Smith:I'll ask if I need help and now she does she stands back and she's like she knows
Kim Smith:I'll ask if I need help and I can't do this today can you do it for me you know
Kim Smith:or if I drop something I've dropped it can you pick it up because I can't reach
Kim Smith:down and get anything from the floor.
Kim Smith:But
Kim Smith:yeah very determined.
Caroline Verdon:And obviously as you said at the point that you have the
Caroline Verdon:hand transplant, it's well documented that People often find it very difficult
Caroline Verdon:initially because it feels like a backward step because you can't use your arms
Caroline Verdon:in the way that you have learned to, to do things and your hands aren't working
Caroline Verdon:well enough to be able to use your arms.
Caroline Verdon:Your hands and that can be a really difficult point.
Caroline Verdon:How, how do you feel about that?
Kim Smith:I, I already knew that was going to be a really tough time and I,
Kim Smith:and I've said to my daughter, God, I'm going to probably be saying to you like I
Kim Smith:did in the early days of losing my hands.
Kim Smith:You know, why on earth did I do this?
Kim Smith:Like I was saying in the early days of losing my hands, why
Kim Smith:on earth did you let me live?
Kim Smith:But, you know, because I know it's going to be hard, how I'll cope,
Kim Smith:I don't know, I'll, I'll find a way to occupy myself with things.
Kim Smith:I've already decided that if I can, I'm going to buy some little squidgey balls
Kim Smith:and sit squeezing them or something to keep practicing them, the hands moving.
Kim Smith:I'll do whatever it takes to get those hands moving and doing what I can as
Kim Smith:long as I'm allowed to do that because I don't want to do anything that
Kim Smith:would cause damage to them, obviously.
Kim Smith:Um,
Kim Smith:as for my hair and makeup, I'm just going to have to go without it and my hair's
Kim Smith:going to have to look a bit naff for a while and I'm just going to have to look
Kim Smith:a bit ugly without makeup and hair done and, and, and just not think about it.
Kim Smith:I'll have to black out all the mirrors in the afternoon so that I
Kim Smith:don't look in them and get depressed.
Kim Smith:If I can't see it, I won't know.
Kim Smith:So yeah, that's, that's probably.
Kim Smith:What would be the hardest?
Kim Smith:Um, I don't know.
Kim Smith:I think I'll be okay.
Kim Smith:I don't think I'll worry too much.
Kim Smith:I mean, when I go shopping.
Kim Smith:At least I'll have hands and I'll be wanting to show them off.
Caroline Verdon:You'll be a basket all the way, no trolley for you.
Caroline Verdon:You'll be there with like three baskets.
Caroline Verdon:Do you have um, like a hospital bag packed and ready to go?
Kim Smith:Yeah, it's all ready.
Caroline Verdon:So at any moment you, you are ready to just head out?
Kim Smith:Yeah.
Kim Smith:It's just the last minute things like charges and things to go in the case.
Kim Smith:Yeah.
Kim Smith:Everything's in there.
Kim Smith:And it's quite funny because I've lost five stones since
Kim Smith:I went on the waiting list.
Kim Smith:Yeah.
Kim Smith:I packed it with brand new knickers and 90s and everything that were size 24
Kim Smith:I think I was, and then they went down to a 22, then they went down to a 20.
Kim Smith:So I keep buying all these brand new ones of different sizes and keep
Kim Smith:giving them to nursing home and going.
Kim Smith:They're brand new, they've been washed and put in a suitcase, they've
Kim Smith:never been worn, would you like them?
Kim Smith:And they've gone, yes please!
Kim Smith:Giving them away, so I'm down to a size 14 now in my tops, but a size 10 knickers,
Kim Smith:and I actually think they're a little bit big and I probably could do with them,
Kim Smith:but my suitcase, I've still got size 12s and I thought, Bugger it, I'm sitting
Kim Smith:down in the wheelchair, if they're a bit big for a few weeks in hospital it really
Kim Smith:doesn't matter, I'm not buying any more.
Caroline Verdon:There's only so much you can spend on
Caroline Verdon:underwear, right?
Kim Smith:Yeah,
Kim Smith:I've spent a
Kim Smith:fortune on all these clothes going down the sizes.
Kim Smith:But that was when I first came out of hospital, the
Kim Smith:depression, I gained that weight.
Kim Smith:And then I just looked in the mirror one day and I went, Oh
Kim Smith:my God, look at the size of you.
Kim Smith:And then it bothered me and I think it bothered me more.
Kim Smith:I think it was because I'd been accepted for the hand transplant.
Kim Smith:And I want to be the fittest and healthiest that I can
Kim Smith:be to receive those hands.
Kim Smith:And to then do those hands justice and prove that family, they did
Kim Smith:the right thing by, by helping me change my life, by, by giving me
Kim Smith:that wonderful gift, because it, to me, that is the most wonderful gift
Kim Smith:anyone could ever give me in my life, even better than having my children.
Kim Smith:And I hope they don't hear me say that, but, but do you know what I mean?
Kim Smith:It's just such, that is just a true gift to give someone, to give them
Kim Smith:your, your dying loved one's hands.
Kim Smith:So that their life can be changed and continue and it will make my life
Kim Smith:better I know it will make my life better and I can't wait for that day
Kim Smith:I really can't
Caroline Verdon:coming up on our next episode.
Caroline Verdon:We meet consultant renal physician and hand transplant physician, Richard Baker
Richard Baker:I suppose sometimes I think of myself as the doom monger in a way
Richard Baker:because I have to talk about complications caused by the drugs, but I think it's
Richard Baker:important to get them in perspective.
Richard Baker:It's very important that everyone goes in with their eyes open and
Richard Baker:knows exactly what could happen.
Richard Baker:And I have to say that I think I've met some of the most impressive individuals
Richard Baker:that I've ever met in my medical career in the recipients of these transplants.
Richard Baker:Because the amount of adversity and the journey that they've had to
Richard Baker:go on is really quite remarkable.
Richard Baker:And they are quite remarkable characters, very resilient people.
Caroline Verdon:This podcast is an under the mast studio production.