This is the emotional moment a woman held the hand of her late twin sister as she met the person who received her limb in a life-changing double transplant.
Deborah Gosling is seen shaking hands with Corinne Hutton – after she agreed for her twin sister Julie Wild’s limbs to be donated following her sudden death from a brain bleed in 2019.
Ms Hutton, who lost her own hands and legs to sepsis in 2013, was only the sixth person to receive a double hand transplant in the UK.
Appearing together on ITV show This Morning yesterday, the 54-year-old revealed how she first met Ms Gosling in an emotional encounter following the life-changing donation five years ago.
The mother of one, from Renfrewshire, Scotland, said she told her: ‘I’ll shake your hand because I can.’
Ms Gosling then held Ms Hutton’s fingers and said: ‘Julie had beautiful hands.’
Ms Hutton then replied saying they were ‘perfect’ and ‘wonderful’ and that they are doing more and more every day.
The video was filmed when the pair met at the Queen’s Hotel in 2019 – but they have decided to share their story now to support the NHS Blood and Transplant campaign.
Ms Wild’s family, from Sheffield, had agreed to donate her hands, pancreas, liver and kidneys after she died of a brain bleed in January 2019, aged 51.
Ms Gosling, now 57, said that agreeing to help others was not a difficult decision to make. Explaining that her sister had been a ‘soft and caring person’ and her ‘best friend’, she admitted that she is ‘still lost without her’.
It was she who had taken her twin to hospital when she became unwell. She said: ‘When the nurse came to see me about organ donation, it wasn’t a hard decision. I said straight away, ‘No problem’.
‘They also asked about donating limbs. And I was quite taken aback by it because I had not heard of that before.
‘But to give somebody a chance of enhancing their life is absolutely incredible. I didn’t hesitate. Julie didn’t need them any more but someone else did.’
Ms Hutton underwent a 12-hour operation to have the limbs attached after 51-year-old Ms Wild’s sudden death.
She met Ms Gosling just months later and the pair shared an emotional hug. She said: ‘Almost instantly at that point your thoughts go to the donor family – in my family’s excitement, we know all too well what they were going through.’
And she added: ‘Most of all I wanted them to know I was grateful. I felt such empathy and a connection because my own parents were asked about the possibility of organ donation when I was in intensive care.
‘I knew it must have been a traumatic time for Julie’s family.
‘I was just so aware of how generous they were to decide to donate. I was hopeful that, for Deborah, holding the hands and touching and seeing them would give them some light after an otherwise dark situation.’
Ms Hutton joked: ‘I also wanted to know what Julie did with her hands – it turned out she drank white wine and sang karaoke.’
Ms Gosling, a paramedic, said she had always wanted to meet the Scot and her recovery had ‘been a source of pride’ for the family.
She added: ‘It’s hard to describe but it’s comforting to know someone has got her hands, that part of her lives on in a way.
‘I couldn’t take my eyes off them when we met. Julie’s organs saved lives and her hands have transformed Corinne’s life.
‘I’d say to other people – don’t hesitate. What good are your organs and limbs when you have passed away?’
Ms Hutton now has about 95 per cent function in her right hand and about 75 per cent in her left hand. She said: ‘I’m so grateful to Julie and her family.
‘I’ll never forget that I am lucky and I will never forget where they’ve come from.’
She is now an advocate for organ donation and founded the charity Finding Your Feet, which supports families affected by amputation or limb absence.
NHS Blood and Transplant had arranged the first meeting in a Leeds hotel six years ago, and the pair decided to share their memories of the encounter on This Morning yesterday to encourage more people to sign up as donors.
Anthony Clarkson, director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation, said: ‘Families take great comfort and pride knowing that their loved one has given an amazing gift to somebody in need.’
