Mom meets transplant recipient who received daughter’s hand

By Faye Mayern

A mom has met the transplant recipient who received her daughter's hand, saying she would be "over the moon" to know she's made such a difference.

Jackie Kirwan, 65, lost her daughter Georgie Peterson following complications from a congenital brain malformation which led to debilitating seizures.

Peterson, 33, of Liverpool, died August 25 last year and had been on the organ donation registry since she was 17 years old.

Her mom Jackie decided to donate Peterson's limbs—with her left hand going to Kim Smith, who lost her hands and feet as a result of sepsis in 2017.

The women decided to meet earlier this year and said the experience was "very emotional."

Speaking at their second reunion, Kirwan said: "We referred to Georgie as our 'human sunshine.'

"Her opinion was that the body is what you live in and it’s the soul that's important.

"I'd decided that if Georgie's donor recipient got in touch, I would meet them.

"Meeting Kim was unreal. We were both crying and she told me she was forever grateful and she would look after her hand forever."

Peterson had been diagnosed with a rare brain disorder called periventricular nodular heterotopia (PVNH)—which is where neurons fail to migrate properly during development and form clumps.

The condition causes focal and often drug-resistant epilepsy and was diagnosed in Peterson after she completed her A-levels.

Her mom Jackie, a cleaner, said: "Everybody thought Georgie was great but she believed she was a burden.

"She struggled with eczema, asthma and depression while her only symptoms of PVNH were seizures and being hypermobile.

"Growing up, she used to bite her tongue, randomly wet herself and suffered from a lot of headaches.

"A week before her A-levels she had a massive seizure which we thought was exam stress.

"But three months later, she had another one and was referred to tests. Those childhood symptoms were actually seizures all along."

Peterson, who was close to her sisters Steph and Sammi, went to university and got a degree in English, and loved dancing, the gym and swimming.

But her epilepsy was so severe, she was unable to drive, work or take public transportation on her own.

Doctors implanted electrodes in her brain so they could determine which part of her brain was causing the seizures in 2023 and she underwent a further surgery last year.

But in May 2025, Peterson's seizures increased and just a few months later, Kirwan found her collapsed in the bathroom.

She said: "I thought she was asleep at first.

"But her brain had been starved of oxygen and from the way she was positioned, we think she'd got up and had a seizure.

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"Despite everything, her theory was always: 'I'd rather it was me than have anybody else suffer from this'."

Peterson passed away August 25, 2025, after three days in the hospital.

But when a donation nurse came to speak with Kirwan, she was surprised to hear that limbs were an option.

She said: "It was the easiest decision to agree to the organ donation.

"Georgie had joined the register when she was 17 but I never realized families still had to sign on their behalf.

"The nurse asked me about Georgie's limbs and I stopped for a moment.

"But Georgie had said it was the soul that was important and I agreed. You don't get to know where the donations go due to patient confidentiality.

"But, I later received a letter from Kim, thanking me and asking to meet. My first thought was that I could meet her and hold Georgie's hand.

"But then I realized that was wrong as it is Kim's hand now—not Georgie's.

"I think Georgie would be over the moon if she knew what it had done for Kim."

Kim Smith, 64, lost all her limbs after contracting a UTI and then suffering from sepsis while on vacation in Alicante, Spain, in 2017.

She was later put on a U.K. waiting list for a double hand transplant and received a new, working left hand in August last year.

The former hairdresser had initially undergone a 14-hour long double hand transplant operation but sadly the right hand was not successful.

She has now become naturally left-handed—despite her right being her dominant before.

The ambassador for Sepsis Research enjoyed her first Christmas with her new limb last year and said Peterson had given her a "wonderful gift."

She said: "It is extremely rare for a donor's family and the recipient to meet.

"I wrote a letter of thanks six weeks after my surgery but a thank you never seems quite enough.

"In the letter, I had said I'd love to meet my donor's family and in February, I had a reply from Jackie.

"We met for the first time at the end of March and it was very emotional.

"I didn't think I was nervous until she walked through the door and I then was shaking like a leaf!

"But we chatted like we'd known each other for years. It was lovely.

"It's so nice that we're still in touch."

The pair are now keen to continue to raise awareness of both sepsis and epilepsy—and keep Peterson's name alive.