A California woman, 23, almost has her foot amputated after a small cut in the toe turned into a flesh rot disease

A small cut from running on this young woman’s toe almost cost her her foot after it turned into a fatal flesh-eating disease.

Californian Sela Serafin, now 23, had always been an avid runner and noticed a small wound on the third toe of her right foot in January last year.

She assumed the pain was a result of running ten miles every day, but her toe started to become increasingly red and swollen.

When her foot turned black, she started to panic.

She was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare and life-threatening infection, also known as flesh-eating disease, that causes black spots on the skin, swollen limbs, nausea and diarrhea.

It was believed to be caused by bacteria getting into the cut on her foot.

Previously, she had only applied a mild antiseptic every day or two and admitted that she didn’t take care to keep it dry or use antibacterial ointment.

She lived in a shared house near Venice Beach and said the area wasn’t the cleanest either.

She was also busy juggling school, work, commuting and other activities, which meant she neglected to give her foot the attention it needed.

Ms Serafin started experiencing more symptoms in February, including feeling extremely tired and tired, anxious, persistent cold and dizziness, but when she graduated from university she attributed the symptoms to stress.

Her entire foot became painful, making it increasingly difficult to move.

The day after the Super Bowl in February, Ms. Serafin woke up to find her foot was bright red and almost twice its normal size.

It was impossible to gain weight, so she decided to go to the hospital.

The next day, while she was home between hospital visits, parts of her foot began to turn yellow-brown, which quickly changed from minute to minute.

She remembered looking away for half an hour and seeing more spots appear, some even turning black.

Ms Serafin said: ‘I experienced more sepsis symptoms as the weeks went by, but I put it down to stress. My foot then started turning black and I knew something was seriously wrong.”

At this stage she could barely speak or keep my eyes open, realized something was seriously wrong and immediately returned to hospital.

At the same time, Ms. Serafin received a call from the hospital, informing her that her blood test results had come back and urging her to return as soon as possible.

She doesn’t remember much between that moment and waking up in the intensive care unit, other than using her last bit of energy to call the Uber while barely conscious.

She was diagnosed with sepsis in the ICU and was given intensive antibiotics through an IV in an attempt to slow the condition.

After being checked, Ms Serafin was told she would have to be in a coma because her blood sugar levels were so low.

She was then seen by a podiatrist who explained that she had necrotizing fasciitis – a rare and life-threatening infection also known as flesh-eating disease.

It can happen when bacteria enter the body through breaks in the skin, such as cuts.

There are many types of bacteria that can cause flesh-eating disease, but Streptococcus group A is the most common.

The bacteria destroys muscle and fat tissue and feeds on cells, causing it to start eating your flesh.

Between 700 and 1,150 cases of necrotizing fasciitis are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, with one in five cases resulting in death.

The amputation rate is around 22 percent.

The next morning, the podiatrist told her she needed emergency surgery because the necrotizing fasciitis was still progressing rapidly.

Over the next few weeks, she underwent three surgeries to save her foot and remove the infected tissue.

Doctors had to dig deep into her flesh and remove a section of her foot as deep as her tendons as the disease ate away her skin.

Fortunately, the operations were successful and she did not require amputation, but she spent the next three weeks in the hospital before being discharged.

Ms Serafin said: ‘Looking back, it’s so clear I was suffering from symptoms of sepsis. I was freezing, even though I live in LA and it’s never cold, I was dizzy, dizzy, tripping over things and had bruises all over my body.

“I couldn’t even send a full text without falling asleep. Every time I sat down, I fell asleep within a few minutes. However, I did not make a connection between my foot and the other complaints I had.’

“I feel so lucky to still have my foot and even be alive,” she said.

In April 2023, she returned to LA to finish school and complete her recovery, including physical therapy to rebuild her strength.

However, she only weighed 65 pounds after coming out of the hospital.

‘I was skinny and had no muscles left because I couldn’t get out of bed. I had no strength to even sit up.

‘Because of the sepsis I even lost 70 percent of my hair. It was horrible. “I was so active before and it completely turned my life upside down,” she said.

‘Life after sepsis left me feeling lost and isolated. I didn’t know that post-sepsis syndrome is incredibly common and can last more than a year.

‘It took me more than a year to heal my intestines so that I could digest food properly, overcome severe fatigue that often made it almost impossible to get out of bed, deal with edema in the lower half of my body, hair loss, brain fog, weakness and depression.

‘During this period I felt incredibly lonely as although the doctors assured me that I was doing well since the infection had cleared and my wound was healing better than expected, I still felt extremely unwell and fearful that it would never end was coming,” she added.

To heal, Ms. Serafin turned to meditation, yoga, baking, connecting with friends, learning about holistic nutrition and herbal medicine, and spending time in nature — a stark contrast to her previously busy lifestyle.

Last September she was able to start running again and is now training for a marathon.