A small running cut on this young woman’s toe nearly cost her her foot after it turned into a deadly carnivorous disease.
Californian Sela Serafin, now 23, has always been an avid runner and noticed a small injury to the third toe on her right foot in January last year.
She assumed the pain was due to wear and tear from running ten miles each day, but her toe began to become increasingly red and swollen.
When her foot turned black, she started to panic.
He was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare and potentially fatal infection, also known as flesh-eating disease, which causes black spots on the skin, swelling of the limbs, nausea and diarrhea.
This is believed to have been caused by bacteria in the cut on his foot.
Ms Serafin recovering from her hospital ordeal
Mrs. Serafin with her mother after her recovery. She was able to start running again in September last year and is now training for a marathon.
Before that, she only applied a mild antiseptic every day or two and admitted she wasn’t careful to keep it dry or use antibacterial ointment.
Living in a shared house near Venice Beach, she said the environment wasn’t the cleanest either.
She was also juggling school, work, commuting and other activities, neglecting to give her foot the attention it needed.
Ms Serafin began experiencing more symptoms in February, such as feeling extremely tired, anxiety, constant colds and dizziness, but as she finished her final exams at university, she blamed these symptoms to stress.
His entire foot became sore, making it increasingly difficult to move.
The day after the Super Bowl in February, Ms. Serafin woke up with a foot that was bright red and almost twice as big as usual.
It was impossible to gain the weight back, so she decided to go to the hospital.
The next day, while she was at home between hospital visits, parts of her foot began to turn yellowish-brown, changing rapidly by the minute.
She remembers looking away for half an hour and noticing new spots appearing, some even turning black.
Ms Serafin said: “I experienced more sepsis symptoms as the weeks went by, but I put it down to stress.” My foot then started to turn black and I knew something was seriously wrong.
At this point, she could barely speak or keep her eyes open and realized something was seriously wrong and immediately returned to the hospital.
At the same time, Ms. Serafin received a call from the hospital, informing her that her blood test results had come back and asking her to return as soon as possible.
She doesn’t remember much between that moment and waking up in intensive care – other than using the last of her strength to call Uber, when she was barely conscious.
Ms. Serafin uses a wheelchair after recovering from necrosis. She only weighed 65 pounds when she left the hospital
Ms. Serafin’s feet after her operations
Ms. Serafin is healthy again. She started a side business called The Cakedom, where she experiments with herbal remedies in functional cakes.
In intensive care, he was diagnosed with sepsis and given intense intravenous antibiotics to try to slow the disease.
After being examined, Ms. Serafin was told that she should be in a coma because her blood sugar levels were very low.
She was then examined by a podiatrist who explained that she was suffering from necrotizing fasciitis, a rare and potentially fatal infection also known as flesh-eating disease.
This can happen when bacteria enters the body through skin injuries such as cuts.
There are many types of bacteria that can cause carnivore disease, but group A streptococci are the most common.
The bacteria destroys muscle and fat tissue and feeds on cells, which is why it starts eating your flesh.
Each year, between 700 and 1,150 cases of necrotizing fasciitis are diagnosed in the United States, including one in five. leading to death.
Amputation rates are around 22 percent.
The next morning, the podiatrist told her she needed emergency surgery because the necrotizing fasciitis was still progressing rapidly.
Over the next few weeks, she underwent three surgeries to save her foot and remove infected tissue.
Doctors had to dig deep into his flesh and remove a piece of his foot as deep as his tendons because the disease was eating away at his skin.
Fortunately, the surgeries were successful and she did not need to be amputated, but she spent the next three weeks in hospital before being discharged.
Ms Serafin said: “Looking back it is so obvious that I was suffering from sepsis symptoms. I was cold, even though I live in LA and it never gets cold, I was spaced out, dizzy, tripping over things and had bruises all over my body.
“I couldn’t even send a full text message without falling asleep. Every time I sat down, I fell asleep within minutes. However, I didn’t make the connection between my foot and the other symptoms I was suffering from.
“I feel so lucky to still have my foot and even be alive,” she said.
In April 2023, she returned to Los Angeles to finish her studies and complete her recovery, including physical therapy to help her regain her strength.
However, she only weighed 65 pounds when she left the hospital.
“I was skinny and had no muscles left because I couldn’t get out of bed. I didn’t even have the strength to sit up.
“I even lost 70 percent of my hair due to sepsis. It was horrible. I used to be very active and it completely changed my life,” she said.
“Life after sepsis has left me feeling lost and isolated. I didn’t know that post-sepsis syndrome was incredibly common and could last for over a year.
“It took me over a year to heal my gut so that I could properly digest food, overcome intense fatigue that often made it almost impossible to get out of bed, deal with edema in the lower half of my body, hair loss and brain fog, weakness and depression.
“During this time, I felt incredibly alone because even though the doctors assured me that I was fine since the infection had cleared up and my wound was healing better than expected, I still felt extremely unwell and was afraid that it never ends,” she added.
To heal, Ms. Serafin turned to meditation, yoga, baking, hanging out with friends, learning holistic nutrition and herbal medicine, and spending time in nature — a stark contrast to her style previously busy life.
She was able to start running again in September last year and is now training for a marathon.