A former cross-country runner was left disfigured and without a leg after developing this flesh-eating disease.
Emma Doherty, 37, fell ill with sepsis in February 2021 – which later turned into necrotizing fasciitis, a serious infection that affects the tissue of your skin, causing it to die.
As a result of the disease, the British woman was given less than 1% chance of survival and is now left in a wheelchair after she had to amputate her leg.
The flesh-eating bacteria also left the former cross-country runner with skin grafts just 2 millimeters thick covering her stomach and forced her to remove the tendons in her left wrist, resulting in serious nerve damage.
“It affected 85% of my body,” she told South West News Service.
“The infection was moving through my body [so fast] the only way to stop it was to cut the [affected tissue] away.”
Doherty, 37, explained that she thinks that she got necrotizing fasciitis when she was in the hospital, citing what could have possibly been a low immune system.
Doctors even considered pulling the plug on her, as she was put on life support and given less than a 1% chance of survival.
Her mom, Marie Keane, told the outlet that she felt “pressure” to take her daughter off of the machine that would keep her alive, but even so, she decided not to.
“On the third day it was like a sickly green film and I asked what it was and they said it was the infection creeping up, and if it hit her major organs there’s nothing they could do,” Keane explained to SWNS.
“They put me under so much pressure to turn off the life support, but something in me kept telling me she’s still there, and there was no way I was letting her go.”
Miraculously, Doherty lived – something she is very grateful for. However, despite doctors being able to save her life, she confessed that the road from there hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing.
Doherty revealed that she was supposed to go to rehab to help her re-learn the basics, like talking, going to the bathroom and eating.
Instead, she was put into a nursing home by the NHS and watched as many in the community died of COVID-19.
She currently lives with her mom — but now, almost two years out, she gets just one 30-minute physical therapy session per week, which she doesn’t think is enough.
“I don’t feel any further on that I was a year and a half ago,” she said. “All I ever get told is that I’m a very complex case.”
“I’d think that would warrant a complex plan but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to happen.”
Doherty explained that she lives in “constant fear” that getting another cut or another injury could affect her condition, particularly her skin grafts, making things worse.
But something that keeps her going is raising awareness about her condition, which she does on TikTok. She wants to make sure that others know the signs and symptoms of necrotizing fasciitis.
“I plan on documenting every step of the way and keep everyone informed,” she said. “Not enough is known about NF a lot of people are scared about it.”
“It can happen to absolutely anybody. Because I had sepsis, my immune system was down and I had an infection in the blood so it made me susceptible.”
Currently, she is raising money to be able to afford a lightweight wheelchair for herself, as well as a ramp for her car, an electronic prosthetic leg, hydrotherapy, and a private physical therapist.
“I feel very let down,” Doherty said about her current condition.
“I can’t propel myself in the chair because of my injuries and it’s so heavy my mum, who has recently had a knee replacement, can’t even lift it into the car.”
She has launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help gather funds for these expenses — her goal right now is $25,000.