Afterwards, all I could think of was the donor and her family
Corinne has hailed her transplant donor, a 51-year-old woman who died suddenly, and thanked her family.
She said: “I couldn’t get my mind off the donor after the operation.
“I was overcome with grief for the family, thinking what they must have been going through. Despite that, they made that very brave decision to allow the hands to be used. And I was told there were several other donor teams there waiting for organs.
“I had never thought I was important because I wouldn’t die through not having hands. “But I know there are other families who thought a loved one was going to die and that lives have been saved through an organ transplant.” Corinne, along with the organ recipients, had the opportunity to say her personal thanks in a letter to the family.
“I’m going to write that in the next week or two. I’ve spoken to other transplant patients in the past who haven’t got round to it yet.
“I feel I have to do it now. I think it’ll be pretty short, saying I’d love it to be handwritten but that I’m so grateful and that I am thinking of them. “I’m sure they had been told beforehand that I’m no shrinking violet and that there would be publicity.
“So, they’d know who got the hands and I don’t know if that was better or worse for them.
“But I got a message after spoke out following the transplant to say they had seen what I’d said and they appreciated my gratitude and the promises I made about what I’d do with them. “That was so nice to hear. “I probably will never meet them, but if they want to track me down and stop me in the street then I think they’ve earned that.”