Overview
- Jackie Kirwan and Kim Smith first met at the end of March, then reunited again as Jackie touched the left hand her daughter had donated.
- Georgie Peterson, 33, died on August 25, 2025 after seizures linked to peri-ventricular nodular heterotopia, a rare disorder that often resists epilepsy drugs.
- Kim Smith received Georgie’s left hand in August last year during a 14 hour double transplant in which the right hand did not take.
- Smith lost her hands and feet to sepsis after a 2017 urinary tract infection in Spain and says the working left hand has brought major gains in daily life.
- Both women note that family–recipient meetings are uncommon due to confidentiality, and they plan to raise awareness of epilepsy and sepsis, with Smith serving as a Sepsis Research ambassador.