A woman has been left permanently disfigured after she contracted a rare ‘flesh-eating’ bacteria that led to her leg being amputated and her being confined to a wheelchair.
Emma Doherty, 37, contracted a life-threatening infection Necrotising fasciitis, otherwise known as the ‘flesh-eating disease’, while being treated for sepsis in February 2021.
Necrotizing fasciitis is a rare and life-threatening infection that can occur if a wound becomes infected.
It infects the soft tissue under the skin, especially the fascia and is most common on the legs but can affect any part of the body.
Emma, a formerly fit cross country runner, believes she contracted the disease while in hospital and her immune system was low.
Emma Doherty, 37, contracted a life-threatening infection with Necotising Fasciitis in February 2021 while being treated for sepsis
While in hospital, the infection became so severe that she was forced to have her leg amputated
The former cross-country runner is now permanently disfigured and confined to a wheelchair (pictured with mother Marie Keane)
She was given a less than 1% chance of survival and doctors told her mother to consider turning off her life support machine.
She said, “It affected 85% of my body. The infection swept through my body [so fast] the only way to stop it was by the [affected tissue] away.’
Emma had the tendons removed from her left wrist and suffered severe nerve damage in the arm.
Extensive skin grafts mean most of her stomach is covered with skin only 2mm thick.
She lives in constant fear that even the slightest cut or injury could expose her internal organs.
Despite this, she counts herself lucky to be alive after doctors told her mother to turn off the life support device while she was in a coma.
Her mother Marie Keane said, “I was shown pictures of her intestines and organs.
“On the third day it was like a sickly green film and I asked what it was and they said it was the infection coming on, and if it hit her major organs there was nothing they could do about it.
“They put so much pressure on me to turn off life support, but something inside me kept telling me she’s still here, and there was no way I could let her go.”
Emma took pictures of her hand after contracting necrotizing fasciitis
The flesh-eating infection ate at her skin, revealing pus and sores
Tragically, it spread all over her body and also ate at her arms
Emma moved from South East London, hoping for a ‘fresh start’ in Blackpool, Lancs.
She was promised rehabilitation to help her relearn basic tasks such as talking, feeding herself and going to the bathroom.
But as it happened during Covid she said she wasn’t getting the support she needed from the NHS.
Instead, social services placed her in a care home for the elderly, where she regularly saw residents who had died of Covid being taken away.
As social housing was not available, she was accommodated in a B&B in Blackpool.
Then, the day before she was due to move, they learned it was unsuitable as her wheelchair wouldn’t fit through the door.
Emma now lives with her mother at Swans Rest Holiday Lodges and Cottages in nearby Poulton-le-fylde, Lancs.
She added, “I don’t feel any further than I did a year and a half ago. I am only told that I am a very complex case.
“I would think that would warrant a complicated plan, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be happening.”
Two years after her diagnosis, she is receiving one 30-minute physical therapy session a week, which she says is not enough because she has not received the intensive rehabilitation she was promised.
While in the hospital, he was given less than a 1% chance of survival
At one point, doctors advised her mother to turn off her life support (pictured together)
Emma is now trying to raise money to buy a lightweight wheelchair, hoist and ramp
Now she is trying to raise money to buy a lightweight wheelchair, a car lift and ramp, an anti-trip electronic leg prosthesis, hydrotherapy and private physiotherapy.
She added: “I feel very let down. My injuries prevent me from propelling myself in the seat and it is so heavy that my mother, who recently had a knee replacement, cannot even lift it into the car.
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I did cross country running, I like to dance and I had a very good social life.’
Emma uses TikTok to raise awareness of the disease, which she says is “so rare that most doctors only read about it in textbooks.”
She added, “I plan to document every step and keep everyone informed. Not enough is known about NF, many people are afraid of it.
“It really can happen to anyone. Because I had sepsis, my immune system was out of order and I had an infection in the blood that made me susceptible.”
A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: ‘We can confirm that they were involved in Emma’s release from hospital and are helping her live as independently as possible.
‘Due to the lack of suitable accommodation when she had to be fired, it was initially decided to temporarily transfer Emma to a care institution where she could receive the right care.
‘Emma now lives with her mother and receives support.
“We understand that the situation must be frustrating for Emma and her family and we will continue to work with them to resolve any concerns about Emma’s care.”