A woman who lost both legs and an arm as a child is poised to become a doctor for children.
Kellie Lim, who became a triple amputee at age 8 because of bacterial meningitis, is to graduate from UCLA’s medical school on Friday, and she plans to focus on childhood allergies and infections disease.
The Michigan native, 26, does not use a prosthetic arm and manages to perform most medical procedures – including giving injections and taking blood – with one arm. She walks on a pair of prosthetic legs.
“Just having that experience of being someone so sick and how devastating that can be – not just for me but for my family too – gives me a perspective that other people don’t necessarily have,” Lim said.
Raised by a blind mother in suburban Detroit, Lim went through years of wheelchairs and painful therapy after toxic shock from the meningitis claimed her limbs and three fingertips on her remaining hand.
