Woman's leg amputated after contracting flesh-eating bacteria on holiday
Jennifer Barlow is believed to have contracted the bacteria through a small cut on her leg.
A woman says she’s “so lucky to be alive” after contracting an aggressive flesh-eating bacteria while on her dream holiday in the Bahamas, forcing doctors to amputate her leg.
Jennifer Barlow’s painful and traumatic “life-changing experience” began in January as she enjoyed the holiday destination’s famous clear blue water.
While swimming, it’s believed she contracted necrotising fasciitis — a rare flesh-eating bacteria — through a small cut on her leg, concerned friends and family wrote on a GoFundMe created for the military veteran.
Tragically for Ms Barlow, who has over 60,000 followers on Instagram, the infection spread “quickly and viciously”, and soon after she returned to the US her brother found her unconscious on her kitchen floor in Atlanta. Paramedics rushed her to the hospital.
“They knew immediately that I was septic and that’s where I got put into surgeries immediately and I went into a coma for 10 days,” Ms Barlow recently told local publication Atlanta News First.
'Looked like a zombie leg'
Over the following months, the 33-year-old underwent more than 30 surgeries to remove the infected skin and muscle.
“When I woke up, I had what looked like a zombie leg. It looked like a dog had gotten a hold of it. And just chewed all over it. I had nothing of a leg left,” she told the publication.
“It was like an amazing trip that I never thought would lead to something like this. You know? Me almost dying.”
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With the infection continuing to “painfully spread”, Ms Barlow and her doctors decided to amputate her entire right leg to giver her the best chance of survival.
The 33-year-old said she decided to open up about her “devastating loss” now in an attempt to warn others about just how quickly such bacteria can get into your blood stream. She has also told people to urge doctors to perform a thorough examination if they feel like something is wrong.
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