Texas mother of three to get first double arm transplant in the U.S.

This photo provided by the Hayes family shows Katy Hayes and her new daughter Arielle, at their Texas home following Katy's amputations.

/ Brigham and Women's Hospital

(CBS News) Katy Hayes, a woman who had all her limbs amputated after developing a deadly infection more than two years ago, is set to become to first American to undergo a double arm transplant.

The 43-year-old mother of three from Kingwood, Texas joined doctors today at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston to announce the milestone at a press conference, CBS Boston reported.

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Four days after giving birth to her third child in 2010, Katy developed Streptococcal A infection and slipped into a coma. To save her life and prevent the spread of the infection, doctors had to amputate her arms and legs.

"Both the doctors looked at me and said that I was going to die and that we should prepare the family for my demise," Hayes recalled Wednesday at the press conference.

She survived and said in a video on the hospital's website that the surgeries were "more than she could grasp," but support from her family and her husband of 13 years, Al, helped her get through it. So too did the Harvard-affiliated hospital which after rigorous evaluation approved Hayes for the milestone surgery, a procedure she says has given her the hope to fight forward.

Katy Hayes discussing her upcoming double-arm transplant at a press conference September 12, 2012 at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

/ CBS Boston

For the procedure, doctors will attach donated arms to where Katy's elbow used to be, first using metal plates and screws to join the bones, before connecting muscles, tendons, arteries, veins and three major nerves of the arm (animation of the surgery). The hospital is working with the New England Organ Bank to find a donor. Dr. Simon Talbot, lead surgeon for the procedure, said at a news conference she will need six months of rehabilitation and may never get feeling or motion in her new hands. But Hayes is hopeful the arms will make her feel more complete.

"I want to hug my children and hug my husband, cook food, and wipe my own bottom; things you guys take for granted," she said. "I have the determination to make these arms my own."

Watch below for a story of Katy's journey from Brigham and Women's Hospital:

Katy Hayes' Journey from BWH Public Affairs on Vimeo.

[DigoPogo]

I am a registered organ donor. I specified any needed organ for transplant only. I wonder, will that include limbs? I am definitely going to check my status, and update if necessary, so that someday my limbs (or ANY transplantable body part) might be used to give someone "the hope to fight forward".

[rwsmith29456]

That is one pretty baby.

[twinbeech]

Of course if she was a salamander she would already have grown the limbs back long ago.

Enough to make me wonder. Does god love salamanders more than he loves us.

[MagnaCartaUK]

It's impossible to imagine, however hard you try, the struggle this lady's endured. So impossible in fact, it's pointless to try. It must have been the trial of all trials however, as in an instant the brain would have instructed the hands to perform a task - the arms would have responded - and then the brain would yet again remind itself that 'ah, it can't be done' ... and the frustration along with feelings of hopelessness would once again be envoked. It's true we take such things for granted - sometimes we suffer an injury that, although not a severe one - reminds us of how dependent on our limbs we are, and how vulnerable we are when deprived of them. I hope this lady's operation proves to be successful, and that life once again returns to some semblance of normality for her. She's also lucky to have such a supportive family - I sometimes wonder how someone in her position copes without it. She has some understanding and talented people fighting with her, and along with her spirited attitude, surely a totally satisfactory future beckons. The very best of wishes to her, and her family.