What the influencer Jennifer Barlow she thought it was a bad sprain and was causing her a lot of pain, she ended up causing her septicemia in the leg. The 33-year-old had just returned to Atlanta from a vacation in the Bahamas in January when she started feeling weak and showing swelling in her right knee.
“It was so swollen, at least three times the size of my left knee. It was really scaryBarlow, a US Army veteran, said, according to the nypost.com. “I was in excruciating pain».
In the emergency room, doctors dismissed it as a simple pull. She was advised to be on crutches and given some pain medication. She described her leg as “like a giant’s foot”, so swollen and warm to the touch.
Another day, the 33-year-old, who was once “extremely healthy,” suddenly fainted. Her brother found her lying on the floor. Finally, Barlow he didn’t have a sprained knee, he had sepsis.
Barlow had suffered septic shock and showed signs kidney and liver failure, according to her doctors, and needed a machine to help her breathe and medication to keep her health stable. “I was very worried that he would not survive” said her doctor, Dr. Jonathan Pollock. “Her life was in serious danger.”
Barlow was afflicted with a rare, potentially fatal disease bacterial infection which leads to necrotizing fasciitis or “carnivore disease”which is thought to be caused primarily by group A strep. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, early intervention with antibiotics is key to treating the bacteria, which spreads quickly and causes various areas of the skin to become red, swollen and warm to the touch.
However, diagnosis can prove difficult in the early stages of the disease, and severe infection can lead to sepsis, shock, and organ failure. For the past five years, the CDC reports that one in five patients with necrotizing fasciitis has died.
Barlow was placed in an induced coma for 10 days, underwent 12 operations during that time to remove dead tissue from her thigh, and woke up “confused and scared”. “I had never heard of rot in my life and I had never heard of carnivorous bacteria». Barlow said.
Doctors couldn’t say for sure how or when Barlow contracted the bacteria, but they treated the infection with antibiotics and removal of dead tissue from her leg.
Things got even worse…
When Barlow was stable enough to be transferred, she went to another hospital for specialized trauma care. Nevertheless, underwent amputation in March, despite the doctors’ efforts to save her leg. “We were down to the thigh muscles in her leg,” said surgeon Dr. Tamra McKenzie-Johnson, who was also involved in her care. Barlow estimates that underwent more than 30 surgeries.
Barlow returned home in May. Now, she is learning how to live her daily life with the loss of her leg. A fundraiser has been set up to cover medical and rehabilitation expenses, which as of Tuesday had raised $38,645, more than half of her goal. “This will help her, both physically and emotionally, for to rebuild her life after such a devastating loss,” the fundraising page says.
While he currently uses a wheelchair to get around, he hopes to meet with specialists to receive a prosthetic limb. “There are so many innovations and technologies for prosthetics“, he said. “I’m extremely open to meeting with someone who could help me.”
Source: News Beast
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