I lost my leg and all my fingers will fall off after a ‘stomach bug’ – I’m begging you not to make my same mistake
A MUM lost her leg after what she thought was a stomach bug turned out to be a life-threatening condition.
Lisa Jones, 44, from Wrexham, suffered sepsis and entered a coma from which doctors said she only had a five per cent chance of emerging.
Four months on, Lisa is recovering at home following amputation of her right leg, and she may still lose the left one and all her fingers.
She said: "I thought it was a tummy bug but as the days went by I was feeling more and more ill.
"I started to dehydrate because if I put anything to my mouth I would heave and be sick.
"After three or four days my sister Tanya said 'I've had enough – we're ringing an ambulance'.
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“When the ambulance came the paramedics put me in a chair and I saw they had a screen with the words 'suspected sepsis'.
“On the way to hospital they put blue lights on and the last thing I remember is the paramedic saying: 'Don't worry Lisa, we're going to get you straight in'."
Around 245,000 Brits get sepsis every year, according to the UK Sepsis Trust.
It is caused by your immune system overreacting to an infection and attacking the body’s organs and tissues.
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Symptoms can include vomiting, very high or low temperature and shivering.
Doctors believe Lisa's original infection was in her kidneys.
Lisa was leading a busy lifestyle before her illness, running a cleaning business and caring for her daughter.
She first started feeling ill in June, waking up in the early hours one morning and vomiting.
Lisa's family later told her she started screaming about excruciating pain in her feet when she arrived at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
With the sepsis shutting down her organs, Lisa entered a coma shortly after arriving and medics put her on life support and kidney dialysis machines.
After she had been in a coma for one day, doctors told her family she only had a one in 20 chance of pulling through.
But three days later, Lisa regained consciousness and found herself "the talk of the hospital".
She said: "I had so many doctors and nurses and consultants coming to me and calling me a miracle, saying I wasn't supposed to be here."
I thought it was a tummy bug.
Lisa Jones
The sepsis had affected Lisa's blood supply to her hands and feet, causing them to turn black.
Lisa remembers the confusion of looking down at the dead tissue in her hands.
After five weeks in hospital, she returned home with her hands and feet still black.
She was unable to walk but doctors gave her physiotherapy exercises, such as bending her legs, in the hope of saving them.
"They told me I needed to get blood rushing to my feet to save them," said Lisa.
"When I first tried to stand up I thought I'd never walk again because I couldn't stand at all.
"I worked so hard at home, pushing myself and trying to move my legs in bed.
“I remember on my dad's birthday, July 23, I did a little video of myself doing two steps forward and two steps back."
The video raised hopes among Lisa's family that her legs could be saved but the black tissue in her right foot was growing and it had started to smell.
It reached a point where Lisa "couldn't take it anymore".
'UNREAL' PAIN
She had been due a hospital visit at the start of September but in mid-August she called and said "I really need you to have a look at this foot".
Lisa was told to go immediately to Glan Clwyd Hospital where specialists quickly began to discuss amputation of her right leg.
She recalls begging the surgeon to “keep as much as possible" but half of her right foot was removed.
When she woke, she was in tears of happiness to see she still had most of her leg, but over the next couple of days the tissue in her foot continued to deteriorate, causing "unreal" pain.
Three days after the surgery, a consultant warned Lisa that if she got an infection which reached the bone, her right leg might have to be amputated at the thigh.
The alternative was amputation just below the knee, which would allow the possibility of using a prosthetic leg, which she agreed to.
She woke in agony from cramp in her stump, screaming in pain and unable to stretch or walk off the cramp for hours.
Eventually the pain dissipated when the bandage was loosened.
She was discharged at the end of August and has been having weekly sessions at the hospital to peel away dead tissue from her remaining foot.
Doctors have told her there is a 50/50 chance the left leg will have to be amputated.
Parts of Lisa's hands are black and experts have said her fingers will inevitably fall off, though they do not know when.
My right hand has been bent like a hook and my fingers are rock hard.
Lisa Jones
"My right hand has been bent like a hook since I was in a coma," she added.
"My fingers are rock hard. I had acrylic nails done three days before this all happened and they haven't grown, I've still got the same perfect pink nails."
Lisa has not been able to get a prosthetic leg yet.
Because of the issues with her hands, she cannot propel herself in a normal wheelchair and has been told there is a 38-week NHS waiting list for an electric one.
Her dad James has started a GoFundMe page in the hope of raising £2,500 to help buy an electric wheelchair and make her home more disabled-friendly.
Lisa’s finances have been stretched by her health battle.
She credited her survival to her "hero" 10-year-old daughter Carly-Ann.
Lisa said: "I used to be the mum and throughout all this she's turned into my mum. She is just amazing and she's got me through it all.
"I want to lead as much of an independent life as possible.
"It's been very hard on my mental health but my little girl has got me through it.
"At night-time she's made sure I've been taking my medication.
“She's been making me cups of coffee. When I've gone out in a wheelchair, with my dad or my partner pushing me, she's been texting me to make sure I'm okay."
Lisa added she has had "amazing" support from her sister Tanya, who has been taking care of her cleaning company Clean Queens, as well as her parents, her partner Colin, and his 14-year-old daughter Evie.
She said: "I wouldn't be here to tell the story without them.
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"I'm going to wake up one morning and my fingers will be in the bed.
"These things do go through my mind but somehow I've been managing to keep all that in one part of my brain."
What are the symptoms of sepsis?
Call 999 or go to A&E if:
An adult or older child has any of these symptoms of sepsis:
- acting confused, slurred speech or not making sense
- blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on brown or black skin, this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
- a rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it, the same as meningitis
- difficulty breathing, breathlessness or breathing very fast
A baby or young child has any of these symptoms of sepsis:
- blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue – on brown or black skin, this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet
- a rash that does not fade when you roll a glass over it, the same as meningitis
- difficulty breathing (you may notice grunting noises or their stomach sucking under their ribcage), breathlessness or breathing very fast
- a weak, high-pitched cry that's not like their normal cry
- not responding like they normally do, or not interested in feeding or normal activities
- being sleepier than normal or difficult to wake
They may not have all these symptoms.
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