Mother loses her arm after catching a flesh-eating bug which left her fighting for her life in a coma for 11 days.
A mother-of-two lost her arm because of a flesh-eating bug which left her fighting for her life in a coma for 11 days.
Keirra Eames was originally rushed into hospital with flu-like symptoms, including sickness and a high temperature, as well as pain in her arm, in January.
Doctors found she had necrotising fasciitis, an infection which kills the skin, muscle and soft tissue. It ravaged her body and caused it to turn black and purple.
The vicious bug had led to life-threatening sepsis, which is when the immune system goes into overdrive and attacks the body.
Mrs Eames, 26, from Utah, was rapidly deteriorating because of the two conditions, which can both lead to amputation or death if not treated quickly.
Doctors made the decision to put her in a coma to help keep her alive, and warned her husband that she may not pull through.
Surgeons removed 40 per cent of the infected tissue in her arm to try and fight the infection – but her only chance of survival was to amputate it at the shoulder.
Now, nine months later, Mrs Eames – who almost lost her left arm, too – has decided to share her story for the first time as she gets used to life without an arm or prosthetic.
She said: ‘I woke up in intensive care with absolutely no recollection of how I got there or why I was even there.
‘I was hallucinating and had no idea with what was going on but when I realised my arm was gone, I cried. It was so hard to believe, I felt helpless.
‘I had a difficult time coping and understanding everything that had happened as it felt surreal – one evening I went to bed as normal and the next I had been fighting for my life.’
Mrs Eames woke up during the middle of the night and I felt like she had dislocated her arm because it was so sore.
She said: ‘I couldn’t get back to sleep and despite initially trying to ignore the pain, I began uncontrollably vomiting and I was sweating a lot – I thought it was the flu.
‘My husband Tyler [28] brought me to the hospital and they informed us my condition was alarming after many blood tests and a CT scan.’
Medics discovered her white cell count was high and, after exploratory surgery on her arm, diagnosed her with necrotising fasciitis.
Flesh-eating infections can be caused by many bacteria, although the phrase most commonly refers to Streptococcus bacteria.
You can read the full story here.
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We at The Lee Spark NF Foundation (including our professional network); do not support any advertising found in these links. The wording used, though helpful in raising awareness of necrotising fasciitis, is used in a publication media manner and is not produced by our charity