At this year’s graduation ceremony for the David Geffen School of Medicine, 26 year-old Kellie Lim walked across the stage on a pair of prosthetic legs to accept her diploma. The event marked the realization of a dream of a person who has lived most of her life with only one limb.
When Lim was 8 years old, she was hospitalized with a life-threatening case of bacterial meningitis.
Meningitis is an infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and the spinal cord, said Rachel Civen, a medical epidemiologist of the acute communicable disease control program at the Los Angeles County Health Department.
The most common form of meningitis is caused by a bacteria that lives in the throat and nose, which is present in the majority of healthy people.
On rare occasions, the bacteria can invade the bloodstream or spinal fluid, resulting in a serious and highly contagious infection that requires hospitalization and treatment with intravenous antibiotics, Civen said.
Even with treatment, meningitis can result in the loss of limbs, impaired brain function, and even death, Civen said.
In Lim’s case, she said the sudden infection induced excessive blood clotting and bleeding throughout her body as well as a drop in blood pressure and decrease of circulation.
Doctors were forced to amputate both of Lim’s legs below the knees, her right arm below the elbow, and three fingertips on her remaining left hand.
Her parents were told that their daughter had a 15 percent chance of survival.
Lim, who recently reviewed her childhood medical records, said in retrospect, “I don’t feel like I beat any odds or think about why I’ve been given the chance. I just like to make the most of (life).”
Four months following the amputations, Lim returned to school. Despite her drastic physical changes, Lim was able to adapt effectively to her new life. Originally right-handed, she learned to write with her left hand.
Having moved from Michigan to Los Angeles four years ago, she now lives alone in an apartment in Westwood. She drives a car with one adaptation ““ a turning knob on the steering wheel.
Lim said that her mother, who was blind for most of her life, was a source of strength in her new lifestyle.
“I remember every morning she would wake up and help me to get dressed for school. I was clumsy at 8 or 9, and it was difficult to get everything together and to get into the wheelchair,” Lim said. “She didn’t give up.”
Lim said she was inspired and motivated to pursue a career in health care by the physicians and nurses that were compassionate and caring toward her.
“(Medicine) is the greatest profession. It challenges me in a lot of ways ““ intellectually, socially and emotionally. It encompasses me as a person.”
After her initial hospitalization, Lim underwent repeated surgeries and years of wheelchair use and painful rehabilitation.
Now, almost 20 years later, she uses her remaining hand and fingers to perform medical procedures such as taking blood and giving injections. Some medical instruments need to be modified, but Lim said she has not been set back.
“It takes some practice, but just because someone has both hands doesn’t mean they are innately able to do the procedures,” she said.
Not only have Lim’s physical challenges not detracted from her ability to perform as a physician, colleagues say they actually bring a unique element to her practice of medicine.
“She just doesn’t seem to have a disability,” said Peter Balingit, one of Lim’s attending physicians during a clerkship rotation at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. “Her physical issues have just made her that much better of a physician.”
Balingit recalls one patient who had a very rare medical condition Lim treated who was able to relate to Lim’s physical circumstances and experiences.
“(Lim) was able to bond with the patient just by talking about being a patient herself and of being hospitalized multiple times after her injury,” Balingit said.
Lim, who graduated near the top of her class, was this year’s recipient of the medical school’s award for excellence in pediatrics and is starting her residency in pediatrics at the UCLA Medical Center this summer.
“Speaking for the faculty,” said Balingit, “she’s definitely one of the best students that have come out of here.”
Her achievements and determination have earned her the respect and admiration of the people she has worked with.
“She’s really a very amazing person,” Balingit said.
“If she is representative of our future as a people, then I think we’re in good hands.”