My daughter donated her hand to a stranger – holding it again has given me comfort

Holding your daughter's hand is something most mothers would take for granted.

But for Jackie Kirwan, it means so much more.

Her daughter, Georgie Peterson, died last year, aged 33, after a rare brain condition caused a fatal seizure.

But Georgie, from Liverpool, donated her hand to quadruple amputee Kim Smith, who had it transplanted last autumn.

Now Jackie, 65, has met Kim and says holding her daughter's hand once more has "given me huge comfort... there's a little piece of her still there".

Kim, 64, from Milton Keynes, lost all four limbs eight years ago after contracting sepsis from a urinary tract infection.

After being on the waiting list for almost four years, she said being given a new hand was "the most precious gift".

The former hairdresser, now a campaigner for sepsis awareness, sent an anonymous letter of thanks via the transplant team at Leeds General Infirmary to her donor's family, who agreed to meet her.

"I just felt I had to say thank you for such an incredible gift," she said.

"It really has changed my life so much. I've been able to hold my youngest granddaughter's hand... it's life-changing, completely."

Meeting the recipient of her daughter's hand had been "amazing", Jackie said.

She described Georgie as "human sunshine" and said her daughter knew from the age of 17 that she wanted to be on the Organ Donor Register.

"Throughout the last 16 years, she did many times say, 'I'm not going to have a long life,'" she said.

Georgie had a rare brain condition called periventricular nodular heterotopia (PVNH) that caused cluster headaches and seizures.

She wrote a book about her condition called Freaks Like Me and also made a podcast about rare diseases.

In February 2025, she underwent pioneering surgery at Liverpool's Walton Centre to treat the seizures.

But later that year, she died after suffering a fatal seizure in the middle of the night.

Georgie had never discussed limb donation with her mother, but when Jackie was approached by the transplant team, she thought: "If I'm giving heart, liver, lungs, kidneys... what difference does it make, and it will change someone's life."

Jackie said if Georgie knew what a difference she had made to Kim, "she would be buzzing".

Georgie's older sister Steph, 40, said meeting Kim had been bittersweet for the family.