'My new hand is the most precious gift ever'

Kim Smith had waited almost four years for the transplant

A woman who was given a hand transplant has said it is "the most amazing gift" she has ever received.

Kim Smith, 64, from Milton Keynes, had been waiting for the procedure at Leeds General Infirmary for almost four years.

The former hairdresser had all four limbs amputated in 2018, when she contracted sepsis following a urinary tract infection.

Top of her wish list after the surgery was to hold her granddaughter's hand for the first time, which she said was "absolutely incredible; the best feeling."

The surgery was carried out at Leeds General Infirmary earlier this year

Despite surgeons transplanting two hands, the right hand clotted, lost blood flow, and had to be amputated.

Mrs Smith was unconscious for three days after surgery, but now recovered, said she was looking on the bright side.

She had decided not to have another hand transplanted, saying: "I don't want to put myself through that again."

She said: "I am used to using a stump, and although I was upset that it hadn't worked... I'm a glass half-full type of girl, and to me one hand is better than no hands."

She added that the donor had "changed my life forever" with the "most precious gift you can ever give someone".

Finally getting to hold her six-year-old granddaughter's hand was "absolutely incredible" and "brought tears to my eyes", she said.

"Now I can't wait for the feeling to come in my hand so that I can actually feel myself touching her."

Mrs Smith said her list of "firsts" had also included holding an ice cream cone and an owl with her new hand, and toasting marshmallows over a fire.

Mrs Smith was overjoyed to hold an owl with her new hand on a weekend away with her family

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is currently the only hospital in the UK to carry out the pioneering surgery.

It has performed 21 hand transplants to date, with Mrs Smith the only female quadruple amputee to have had one of her transplanted hands removed.

Prof Simon Kay, consultant plastic surgeon who carried out the surgery, paid tribute to her.

"Kim is not just a survivor but she's an icon, in terms of the way she and her family have dealt with a dreadful illness, and then the determination to have a transplant and the stoical way she came through all the complexities of the transplant," he said.