A Canadian teenager who mistook the symptoms of septic shock for common medical problems woke up from a month-long coma to find her limbs needed amputation.
Amalie Henze, 19, was living with Crohn’s disease and underwent routine bowel surgery in the fall of 2023. Shortly after the procedure, the teen began experiencing what she thought were normal Crohn’s symptoms.
She was admitted to the hospital and given intravenous morphine, a feeding tube and a gastric tube, the same routine she would receive every time she was admitted for intestinal obstructions.
Henze began to experience bladder cramps and when the nurse tried to take his blood pressure, she noticed that his limbs had turned purple. He was diagnosed with septic shock and told he had to be put into an induced coma.
“After realizing I had sepsis, the doctors thought it was the best idea to put me in a medically induced coma to give me the best chance of fighting off the infection,” Henze said. People.
Amalie Henze, 19, woke up from a month-long coma to discover that all of her limbs had to be amputated.
Henze found peace during the difficult journey by learning about prosthetics and how she can live a normal life.
“I didn’t find out about sepsis or septic shock until I finally came out of the coma, at which point the doctors gave me a rundown of what had happened.”
Henze’s family and doctors prepared her for the news that her limbs would need to be amputated after she woke up.
“I knew something was going on with my limbs because the doctors, nurses and my family were so concerned about not letting me see what my hands and feet looked like at that time,” Henze said.
“It was really overwhelming to know that I had to have my hands and feet amputated. I remember when the doctors first told me. It was a total shock.
‘I think the scariest part, though, was probably when I saw what one of my feet looked like at the time, because I remember looking down and seeing something completely black.’
After her surgery, the teenager thought she was experiencing normal Crohn’s symptoms, but she was actually diagnosed with septic shock and placed in a medically induced coma.
Henze was living with Crohn’s disease and underwent routine intestinal surgery in the fall of 2023.
Her difficult recovery included being connected to a feeding tube, having a tracheotomy and not being able to speak.
“I was transferred three times. I was in the ICU of one hospital, then I was transferred to the ICU of another hospital, because they had to do all my amputation operations there. And then, when I was fully recovered, I was transferred to the amputee rehabilitation center,” Henze said.
‘It’s hard to relate to a lot of people my age, but I think there was definitely a blessing in all of this having gone through something so traumatic.
‘Through that, I definitely learned who my true friends are and who is willing to make the effort to understand what I’ve been going through, as much as possible.’
Her family and doctors prepared her for the news that her limbs would need to be amputated after she woke up.
She found peace during the difficult journey by learning about prosthetics and how she can live a normal life while sharing inspiring content on their TikTok account.
“I’ve found it very difficult to adjust to the loss of independence because I’ve always been a very independent person. Having to rely on my family for a lot of my basic needs has been very hard,” Henze said.
‘Thanks to all of this, my Crohn’s disease was able to go into remission, which is fantastic because I have been trying many medications to try to achieve remission for these last three years.
“Now that my medical condition is stable, I hope to be able to do a lot more. Last year I was able to get my prosthesis and get used to it, and now I look forward to meeting new people and enjoying my life a little more.”
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