Survivor Embraces Life

I didn’t know what to expect when I met Kim Steele…I had talked with her on the phone and I knew she had no hands or feet, but I also knew she was quite comfortable bringing herself to my office.

I wasn’t ready for the big smile that greeted me, and the sparkle in her eyes. And, as we talked, the smile never faded, and I didn’t really even notice her handicap.

Kim Gilliam Steele moved to Monticello just four short months ago. It was time to leave LaGrange, and she didn’t really want to go back to Henry County where she lived all her life. Her family wanted her close by, and they are in Henry County. Her brother has a lake house on Jackson Lake which got her looking this direction. She saw her house online, a listing on Robert Drive, and knew it was the house for her. She made an offer, sight unseen.

You see, Kim is very independent, but she can benefit from handicapped accessible areas. Like she doesn’t do steps well, so a house with few or no steps was her goal. This house had a fenced in back yard for her furbabies, Peanut and Paisley, and no steps. She fell in love with it. She has no regrets. She has set up housekeeping in Monticello, loves her neighbors, and loves the town. She immediately started supporting the Market on the Square on Saturday mornings, and last week was a vendor there herself, selling her autobiography, Living Life with No Limits.

The book tells Kim’s story…a sad story, no doubt, but written in such an upbeat fashion that reflect Kim’s upbeat personality and her life as a survivor. Although she suffers with Crohn’s disease, and has no hands or feet, she is delightful to be around, and wants to do all she can to help others.

You see, Kim only had a nine percent chance of surviving when she was diagnosed with Sepsis in May, 2016. She coded three times at the hospital, but they were able to bring her back. Shortly after is when they amputated her hands, luckily just at the wrists. She said one doctor wanted to amputate further up, but her family sought and got a second opinion and her arms were saved. She is very good at using what she has left to operate a phone, count change, do whatever.

Kim has a bionic hand and a hook to help her when she needs them, but she drives without any aids on her hands. She has prosthetic legs, and gets around quite well. She can do everything for herself.

They were still trying to save her legs when they took her hands. She had to go through the pain of debriding the skin off her legs. They tried to save them, but it was not to be. In November, 2016, she had her legs amputated, and a month later she took her first steps. From the time she first got sick until she got out of hospitals and institutions was a full year. But, she learned her life skills during that year.

After the amputations, it was hard to find a place that would take Kim for her rehab. Finally, there was an opening at Warm Springs. She said there’s a spirit at Warm Springs, and she felt it when she walked in the doors. She slept the whole night her first night there, something she hadn’t done in a long time.

On top of everything else, Kim says she used to be quite overweight. So, she had to lose weight to be able to lift herself with her arms, something occasionally necessary when you have no legs. She worked out and managed her diet. She looks great now, and obviously can take care of herself.

The thing about it is, as Kim tells her story, which includes a lot of heartache by a deceitful husband and stepdaughters, she is not bitter. She knows she nearly died, and feels like God has a purpose for her life. She spends a lot of time volunteering and has her own You-Tube channel, Life Hacks for Amputees.

Some of those hacks are things you wouldn’t think of—opening a can, cooking, putting on make-up, fixing your hair. She had to learn to do everything differently.

Kim says she has phantom pains in her fingers, feet and toes, and she misses wearing rings. But she loves her furbabies, her family, and the chance to help others achieve all they can be. She speaks at events, and speaks one-on-one with others. She tells the story of a stroke victim that had lost all hope. She became friends with him, and he got better, and was able to return home. She keeps in touch with him still today.

She also does telephone visits, texts people encouraging words, and helps others any way she can. She speaks to school groups, church groups, civic clubs, and others. She was the first female volunteer in Georgia with Hangar Prosthetics. She also volunteers with the Amputee Coalition Worldwide.

Kim said she can feel when God is leading her, and she talks freely about her faith—“That’s what got me through.