Imagine waking up on an ordinary Thursday.  You’re playing with your dog, and you trip over a stool, leading you to your death bed.  A simple fall causing breathing problems and unbearable pain in the left arm was no dream for my aunt Heidi.  It was a real nightmare.

She was playing with her dog when she stumbled over a foot stool.  She landed hard on her left arm.  Two days later, both her arm and breathing was worse.  She then couldn’t handle the pain anymore, so she decided to head to the hospital to see what was wrong.  When she arrived, the doctor said there was nothing wrong, and the doctor sent her home.  The next day, her arm wasn’t any better.  In fact it was worse.  So, she went to a different hospital to receive second opinion.  The doctor once again said there was nothing wrong.  Finally, the next day the pain was so bad, she couldn’t even drive herself to the doctor, and she had to call the ambulance herself.  When the ambulance arrived to pick her up, the people in the ambulance immediately put an IV in her arm, and that’s when everything in her arm all started.  Within minutes of the IV in, her arm blew up about twenty times its size. 

When the ambulance arrived at Mercy Hospital, the hospital immediately contacted Heidi’s mother, Bonnie.  Bonnie then called the rest of the family and told the family about Heidi.  Close family members then left.  It was the longest hour and a half drive they had ever taken, not knowing what was wrong.

When Heidi’s family finally arrived at the hospital, Heidi was still in surgery.  When surgery was complete, the doctor came out and told us the frightening news. We had never heard of this disease before, and it was all new to us. The doctor said there were only two other cases reported at Mercy Hospital of this disease.  The doctor wanted to fly Heidi out to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, but the doctor said Heidi would never make it.  So, the doctor decided to keep Hedid at Mercy in the ICU.  He contacted three other specialists to help him with this case because it was so serious.

Necrotizing Fasciitis, also known as the “Flesh eating Bacteria” disease, was now attacking my aunt’s body.  Once the bacteria enters your body, it releases toxins that kill tissues such as muscles, skin, and fat.  The most common way of getting this bacteria is through a cut, scrape, burn, insect bite, or puncture wound.  In the next twenty four hours, she had six more surgeries to remove dead flesh. They kept her in an induced coma as well.
If that wasn’t enough, the second day Heidi developed “Toxic Shock Syndrome”.  Toxic Shock is rare, and is a life threatening complication of certain types of bacterial infections.  Heidi’s heart and liver enlarged, along with a collapsed right lung.  While the doctors were trying to treat that, her blood pressure dropped so low causing her feet and toes to turn black. They thought they were going to end up amputating Heidi’s feet in order to get her heart to function normal.    

The doctors came to talk to Bonnie and gave her the worst news any mother could imagine.  They said she had less than a 1% chance of survival.  Everyone crowded around her bed, and the priest gave Heidi her last rights.  Her family went to the Chapel and prayed to God to please be with Heidi, and make her well. 

  The days came and went with not much change.  The doctors and nurses were amazed at Heidi’s will to live.  By the end of the third week, everything began to look upward.  Little by little, she started to improve.  At the end of her fourth week, they decided to bring her out of her coma and remove her breathing tube.  It took three attempts, but she finally was breathing on Heidi’s own.  She spent two more weeks in Mercy Hospital, and then they transferred her over St. Joseph hospital for another month for rehabilitation.  She had to learn how to walk, speak, and write again.  Finally, the first of July she was able to go home! But, for the next three years she was in and out of the hospital because her arm would just not heal.  Finally a team of surgeons got together, and decided to do a surgery that would attach Heidi’s left arm to her left leg for 2 months to get fresh blood supply into her arm.  It was a successful surgery, and things are finally looking up. 

Although she only has about 55% mobility in her arm, and is a lot smaller than her other arm, she doesn’t care, because she’s alive, and feels great.  I do have to say miracles do happen.