Teenager Has Legs and Fingers Amputated After Mistaking a Serious Illness for the Flu: ‘My Feet Were Green’

A assemblage student had to get her legs and fingers amputated successful life-saving operations aft mistaking a superior unwellness for freshers’ flu.

Eight days aft Ketia Moponda arrived astatine De Montfort University successful Leicester, England, successful September 2024, she started emotion sick, per SWNS. 

The 19-year-old didn’t return contiguous action because she believed her symptoms – which started pinch conscionable a cough – were caused by nan freshers’ flu, which often affects students astatine nan opening of a schoolhouse year.

She recalled emotion drowsy 1 evening astatine dinner, truthful she took medicine and went to bed. When she woke up nan adjacent day, she felt worse. 

Moponda called her relative and champion friend passim nan day, telling nan second that she felt for illustration she was “going to die.” When she didn’t cheque successful nan adjacent day, her friend contacted nan university. 

The trading and advertizing student was recovered unconscious successful her dorm room and transported to nan ICU astatine Leicester Royal Infirmary hospital.

Moponda was diagnosed pinch meningococcal septicaemia. The superior bacterial infection caused bacterial meningitis, which led to sepsis. The assemblage freshman underwent amputations to her fingers and some legs successful January.

Meningococcal disease, per Cleveland Clinic, is simply a bacterial infection that tin beryllium dispersed done spit aliases mucus. The unwellness tin infect your meninges, which are nan membranes that screen one’s encephalon and spinal cord, and blood. Some survivors person semipermanent complications, including encephalon damage, kidney damage, nonaccomplishment of limbs and nervus damage. 

Moponda, who wants to stock her communicative to be aware different students, said, “I person nary representation of immoderate of this, but I’m fortunate to beryllium alive.”

The student explained that erstwhile she arrived astatine nan hospital, her humor oxygen level was astatine 1% and her humor wasn’t decently circulating done her body. 

"My feet were greenish and swollen,” she said. "My organs were failing, and doctors told my family that if I woke astatine each I'd apt beryllium encephalon dead."

At nan hospital, Moponda was put into a coma and woke up 2 days later. She recalled that she “couldn’t spot aliases speak and it was a full week earlier I started speaking.”

During her treatment, nan tegument connected her fingers and feet became swollen and achy because of nan deficiency of humor flow. She besides caught a flesh-eating infection connected her buttocks, which was addressed pinch a tegument graft from her thighs. 

Her fingers were amputated astatine Queen Elizabeth infirmary successful Birmingham successful December. Both of her legs were amputated correct beneath nan knee nan pursuing month.  "Basically my legs had died because of a deficiency of humor going to them," she said. "It was terrible."

"I conscionable kept crying each nan time. I felt truthful hurt, it was sidesplitting my spirit," she added.

Moponda, who lived an progressive manner and had aspirations to beryllium a model, said she "just cried" erstwhile she woke up from nan operation. "I felt for illustration my full life had conscionable begun and now I had to commencement each complete again differently."

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The student was discharged from nan infirmary successful February and sewage prosthetic little legs a fewer months later successful May. 

Now, she is learning really to locomotion again and is dedicated to breaking “all nan barriers of disability.”

"This doesn't make maine little of a person,” Moponda said.  "I americium unapologetically maine and I want to thief others to consciousness assured astir who they are and really they look.”