Necrotising fasciitis: I'm so glad to be alive - says survivor of rare flesh-eating bug

Louise, who is launching Sight Loss Solutions this weekend, was due to open her new business seven weeks ago when a medical emergency intervened.

Just a few days before the grand opening, Louise was in her Derbyshire garden when she noticed that her right leg was swollen. The following day she started to feel really cold while having a meal with her husband Mark in a restaurant to celebrate his birthday.

Louise, 58, said: "The next morning my leg had really swelled and was quite painful to weight bear. Immediately, I went to the doctor who said I had cellultis. She gave me antibiotics and I took three lots but that evening I started to feel quite a lot worse. By the next morning I had what looked like a port wine birthmark on my ankle. I said to Mark I think I've got sepsis."

Mark took Louise to Chesterfield Royal Hospital where she began to feel extremely unwell in the waiting area after she had had blood tests. Her discomfort was noticed by Charlotte Holmes, a trainee advanced clinical practitioner, who settled Louise on a bed while she alerted colleagues. Louise said the head of A&E, orthopaedic surgeons, consultants, anaesthetists and nurses were at her bedside within minutes.

She said: "I owe my life to Charlotte. She was studying the life-threatening condition necrotising fasciitis - a rare flesh-eating infection - the week before at university. She said that she could tell from a few minutes that I looked poorly, that I was deteriorating but I was being very descriptive about how I felt which helped her make the diagnosis."

Charlotte said: “I am incredibly proud to be a part of the Emergency Care Team, we were able to identify the severity of Louise’s condition and act quickly in collaboration with Orthopaedics and Critical Care to provide the best possible care and treatment with the urgency required.”

Necrotising fasciitis is a life-threatening bacterial infection that penetrates the first layer of skin, gets into the blood, attacks the bones and then the organs. If not treated quickly enough, the infection can lead to amputation and if left untreated, it can cause death within 12 to 24 hours.

Louise said: "While I was in A&E it was travelling from the foot and had got to the knee. The consultant told Mark that I had only got a 20% chance of surviving. Within an hour I was in theatre. After theatre I was in the high dependency unit for three days.”

Sally Davies, Deputy Medical Director at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Luckily, this condition is rare – with only 500 cases in the country a year, we see very few at Chesterfield. Charlotte and her whole team worked with Louise to ensure that her care was the best it could be.

“It’s always lovely for colleagues to receive recognition when they are worked so hard to care for our patients and I know Charlotte will take this positive into the rest of her career at Chesterfield.”

Louise was transferred from the high dependency unit to the Robinsons ward at the Royal where again she said that she received outstanding care from everyone she met.

She was on Robinsons ward for a few days shy of a month. Louise said: “I had to go back into theatre six times in one week as they had to cut away this flesh-eating infection, if not it would have spread to the bone and that's when things start coming off.

"I had to have plastic surgery because they went so deep into my ankle. They had to skin graft from my thigh onto my foot which I had at the Northern General Hospital because the Royal doesn't have a plastic surgery clinic.

"I've had several visits back to the wound clinic at the Northern General, the skin graft has taken and I've amazed them with my progress and determined attitude."

Now able to get around on crutches, Louise began physio at the Royal this week.

Louise, who loves running, said: "Psychologically, it's a loss to my independence, I might not get sensation back to the graft area. I feel like I've got a manikin’s foot. I feel quite squeamish when I have to bathe it but it's functional. I do cry but they are tears of joy - I'm so glad to be alive."

She believes the infection came through soil and entered her body through a cut in her skin. Louise said: "I would understand it if I'd been to the Amazon but not in a back garden in Chesterfield. I am going to be a voice for awareness, it is so very rare."Now she is looking forward to getting her new business off the ground and welcoming clients to Sight Loss Solutions at 477a Chatsworth Road, Chesterfield. She will officially open the premises on Saturday, June 15, from 7pm to 9pm.

Louise said: "For my recovery, I'm limited in what I can do physically but I can do a lot with my mind. I'll be able to sit and do consultations, put together programmes and goals.

"The opening has been delayed but it has made me even more determined....I'm like a phoenix, I'm rising."

Louise was a practitioner in adult social services for 25 years before branching out on her own. Her new business aims to fill the gap between social services and the NHS by providing individual/group sessions and also supporting the carers of people who have experienced sight loss.

To find out more about what she can offer, email: [email protected] or call 07713 843194