I thought I just got a little cut while gardening

A WOMAN thought she only had a small cut but almost died after catching a carnivorous insect in her flower beds.

Louise Fawcett, 58, was enjoying some gardening at her home in Chesterfield and thought nothing of it when she scraped her foot on some shingles in April this year.

Louise feels ‘lucky to be alive’ after contracting flesh-eating bugCredit: SWNS

She almost lost her foot after the potentially fatal infection ate away at her skinCredit: SWNS

Louise went to hospital after waking up with her foot swollen and purple.Credit: SWNS

However, when the swelling quickly began, the vision rehabilitation specialist felt “pretty bad.”

Louise, from Yorkshire, said: “I couldn’t wear shoes to Mark’s birthday dinner. I couldn’t put any weight on it,” Louise explained.

The redness was rampant. It was changing before their eyes

Louise Fawcett

She gave it a few days before going to her GP, who prescribed antibiotics for an infection called cellulitis.

But to Louise’s horror, she woke up in absolute agony the next morning and her foot was “very purple”.

“The next morning I noticed that the ankle appeared to have a port wine birthmark. It was very purple,” she added.

“I thought it was sepsis.”

Quick-witted husband Mark, 59, rushed his wife to Chesterfield Royal Hospital for blood tests.

Louise said: “They took me to a small room.

“The redness was creeping. It was changing before their eyes.

“They thought I might lose my life or my leg.”

The test revealed the 58-year-old had contracted a flesh-eating virus called necrotizing fasciitis.

The surgeons immediately took her to the operating room and cut open her foot to eliminate the insect by removing the infected tissue.

She spent three days in intensive care, underwent seven operations, including a thigh skin graft, and was finally allowed to go home after three weeks of treatment.

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Louise thinks she caught the potentially deadly insect from the soil in her garden.

She thinks it got into her bloodstream through a small cut she made on her foot.

“I must have had a little cut. I think I caught it in the ground,” she said.

“Mark, my husband, has taken care of our garden. It is full of rubble.

Necrotizing fasciitis

NECROTIZING fasciitis, also known as carnivorous bug, is a potentially fatal infection.

Symptoms of necrotizing fasciitis can develop quickly over a few hours or days.

This can happen if a wound becomes infected.

Hospital treatment is needed immediately.

At first you might have:

severe pain or loss of sensation near a cut or wound – the pain may feel much worse than you would usually expect from a cut or wound
swelling of the skin around the affected area
flu-like symptoms, such as high temperature, headache, and fatigue

Later symptoms may include:

being sick (vomiting) and diarrhea
confusion
black, purple, or gray spots and blisters on the skin (these may be less obvious on black or brown skin)

“I’m not lucky to have him but I’m lucky to be alive.

“I can’t believe this happened in such a suburban place like Chesterfield.”

Louise was grateful to be discharged on May 16, 2024 with a successful skin graft.

She now has a pair of crutches to help her walk and must undergo physiotherapy exercises.

“Happy to be alive”

The 58-year-old added: “They told me it was cured. I was crying with joy.

“I’m here. I’m happy to be alive.”

Louise has a brace to support her ankle when she sits so it stays at 90 degrees.

But she still has trouble looking at him after the operations.

“I have to wash my feet,” she said.

“I can’t look at it. It doesn’t look like my foot.

“It looks like a mannequin’s foot.”

Louise had to postpone the launch of her business Sight Loss Solutions due to the trauma.

But she bravely planned to open her practice on June 16, 2024.

She wishes to organize individual and group sessions and also support caregivers of people who have experienced vision loss.

The 58-year-old spent three days in intensive care and three weeks in hospitalCredit: SWNS

His skin graft was successfulCredit: SWNS

Louise feels “happy to be alive”Credit: SWNS

Husband Mark rushed Louise to hospital after her foot turned purpleCredit: SWNS