Graphic Warning
ON DEATH'S DOOR
My Friday night glass of wine triggered hideous bug that ravaged my body from my foot to my groin and left me oozing pus
The life-threatening infection can happen if a wound gets infected - find out the signs below
A GRAN admits she thought nothing of a tiny cut from a smashed wine glass - until she developed a "flesh-eating bug" that "ravaged" her body.
Susan Sztybel had opened her kitchen cupboard to grab two wine glasses for her and her partner David Farmer, 69, when one fell out and smashed on the floor.
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In the process, the 67-year-old said a shard of glass caught her right foot leaving a small one-inch cut in her skin on March 28.
After the mum-of-three put plasters over the scratch, she went to bed and thought nothing more of it.
But 24 hours later, Susan says she began to feel feverish as her cut began to bleed and ooze pus, so she went to Alexandra Hospital in Redditch to have it checked out.
The carer was then transferred to a specialist team at Worcester Royal Hospital to be treated for sepsis, strep A, and cellulitis - which developed into a flesh-eating bacteria.
Read more on flesh-eating bugs
By this point, Susan claims the infection had crept up her right leg into her groin and was told by doctors her chance of survival was low.
She then underwent debridement surgeries to scrape as much of the "flesh-eating bug" out of her foot and was then put on a vac machine to suck the infection out of her skin.
Due to the medication and the severity of her illness, the support worker claims she saw the "pearly gates" in hospital and feared she would die.
Thankfully, doctors were able to save her life and foot and after more than a month in hospital, she is recovering at her partner's house.
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Susan is now keen to raise awareness about what happened to her to show how one small cut from a piece of glass almost cost her her life.
Susan, from Stourport-on-Severn in Worcestershire, said: "On Friday night I got home and I opened the cupboard and this glass fell out and smashed.
'It's like someone is wiggling a red hot poker through my legs,' says man, 49, who is 'red and oozing like raw meat'
"I was just going to have a glass of wine with my partner to celebrate the weekend coming in.
"It was a wine glass that smashed. My partner cleaned up the glass and I wiped my one-inch cut on my foot [from the glass] and put a plaster on it and thought no more of it.
"[On Saturday], I carried on with my shift at work as a living carer. I knew I had done something to my ankle at this point as it was a bit sore.
"24 hours later I felt a little bit sick and hot and then within a couple of hours I was feeling sick and was sweating and felt really poorly.
"I didn't realise the seriousness at this point. I thought I just had a bug and I never imagined it was to do with my cut.
"Someone took over my shift and at this point I was feeling very faint and my cut was oozing.
I didn't realise the seriousness at this point. I thought I just had a bug and I never imagined it was to do with my cut
Susan Sztybel
"It was oozing and there was lots of clear blood and puss. My foot felt like it was pulsating.
"Within 48 hours the infection had crept up my leg into my groin and this is when they said doctors would have to operate and they didn't know if I was going to survive.
"All I kept saying was please save me. I didn't care if I lost my leg.
"They say you see the pearly gates. In the next few days, I saw those pearly gates. I was hallucinating.
"It was a flesh-eating bug which was ravaging through my skin and leg and I was fighting to keep alive.
"I had to lay down with my leg higher than my heart for 23 hours a day and was only allowed to sit up to eat."
It was a flesh-eating bug which was ravaging through my skin and leg and I was fighting to keep alive
Susan Sztybel
After more than a month in hospital, Susan was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where she underwent plastic surgery on her foot on May 5th.
While she has been told her foot may never look the same again, doctors have said she will not suffer any long-term effects from the infection.
Susan said: "In the early days, I was told by a doctor that they couldn't believe I had survived so far as my infection marker was so high and I was very poorly.
"Your infection marker should be at five and mine was 500 and you shouldn't survive with this.
"I kept praying and hoping and I'm here to tell the tale. I defeated the odds.
"They kept digging away at my ankle and had taken so much out I needed plastic surgery.
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"They took skin from my thigh which is the donor site and put this on my ankle."
The grandma-of-eight is now urging people to get their cuts checked out straight away if they believe them to be infected.
Susan said: "A tiny, little one-inch cut that was clear and only needed a plaster on it turned into something so massive.
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"If this saves other people going through what I've gone through and saves their limbs and their lives, it's worth it.
"I would tell people to act straight away [if they are concerned about a cut]. I didn't because I didn't think it was anything to worry about at first."
Necrotising fasciitis
Necrotising fasciitis, also known as the "flesh-eating disease", is a rare and life-threatening infection that can happen if a wound gets infected.
It needs to be treated in hospital straight away.
Symptoms can develop quickly within hours or a few days.
At first, a person may have:
- intense pain or loss of feeling near to a cut or wound – the pain may seem 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 a high temperature, headache and tiredness
Later symptoms can include:
- being sick (vomiting) and diarrhoea
- confusion
- black, purple or grey blotches and blisters on the skin (these may be less obvious on black or brown skin)
Call 999 or go to A&E if:
- you have a cut or wound that is much more painful than you would expect
- you have a cut or wound and get symptoms like a high temperature, headache, tiredness and muscle aches
- you have sudden confusion
- you have black, purple or grey blotches or blisters near a cut or wound
Don't drive to A&E. Ask someone to drive you or call 999 and ask for an ambulance.
Source: NHS
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