A new mom in South Carolina is fighting for her life after she was infected with a flesh-eating bacteria virus.
STORY: Flesh-Eating Disease Leaves Georgia Student Fighting For Her Life!
Lana Kuykendall, 36, was sent back to the hospital just 13 hours after she was released following the birth of her twins.
According to MSNBC, the infection began as a small bruise on Kuykendall’s leg, and began growing rapidly about one quarter of an inch an hour as she remains in critical condition at a hospital in Greenville.
Kuykendall is the second woman in the South to contract a rare bacterial infection called necrotizing fasciitis, which can spread rapidly as it kills flesh.
Aimee Copeland, 24, a graduate student at the University of Georgia, has lost one leg and the fingers on one of her hands after she was infected when she cut herself after falling from a homemade zip line.
Her family fears she could lose an arm and the foot on her other leg, as well.
Kuykendall, who works as a trained paramedic, knew something bad had happened when she spotted the bruise on her leg and began experiencing pain that wouldn’t go away.
Her husband took her to the hospital and within 90 minutes, she was in emergency surgery. Doctors removed the dead, infected flesh on her leg in the hopes that they could stop the bacteria from spreading.
Before she went into surgery, Kuykendall and her husband Darren watched in horror as the infection visibly spread throughout her leg.
Darrenl, a firefighter, said:
“And the longer she sat there, the bigger that spot got. It was initially the size of a 3-by-5 index card. But it got bigger and bigger…It moved a quarter of an inch in half an hour. Then the high-risk OB physician had a suspicion of what it was.”
Kuykendall is currently in the intensive care unit of Greenville Memorial Hospital, breathing through a tube. And she’s missing out on some of the most important early days of her newborns’ lives.
Kayla Moon, one of Kuykendall’s best friends, said:
“We’re still in disbelief that here is my friend, who just had these two beautiful babies, and now she is incubated upstairs, and not able to enjoy the bonding experience, and enjoy the babies.”
What a tragedy. We pray that Mrs. Kuykendall pulls through and has a healthy recovery.
