A family has been left devastated after a young woman was suddenly stricken with a mysterious illness and died.
Ashley Timbery, 29, from Nowra on the NSW South Coast lost feeling in her legs on February 15 and collapsed before being rushed to intensive care at Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital.
Doctors placed her in an induced coma as they carried out tests which found a series of cavities in her lungs, leading them to determine she had a ‘superbug’ infection which was attacking her organs.
After 10 days at Shoalhaven Hospital, Ms Timbery was transferred to St George Hospital in Sydney, where doctors found she had specifically contracted Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
MRSA is a type of bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics, which makes infection with them extremely difficult to treat.
According to the Mayo Clinic, most people get the infection in hospitals or other healthcare settings, such as aged care, but it is also present in the wider community.
Ashley Timber, 29, collapsed on February 15 and later sadly died after an MRSA infection led to pneumonia
Other groups at increased risk are athletes, those in restricted locations such as army barracks or prisons, drug users, the immunocompromised and those who have recently had surgery – although it is not limited to these groups.
Mrs Timbery’s infection resulted in pneumonia which was the cause of her death.
Her cousin Shantelle Locke said there were no clear symptoms that Ms Timbery was seriously ill before she collapsed.
“The doctor seemed to think she might have had the pneumonia for maybe a couple of weeks before she went to the hospital, but she never got it treated and obviously didn’t know it was pneumonia,” Locke said. Yahoo News.
Shantelle Lock (left) with her cousin Ashely Timbery (right), who she said had no obvious symptoms of being seriously unwell
Mrs Timbery only felt slightly lethargic and had one or two boils, a symptom of the infection that can resemble large pimples.
Her right lung had collapsed at Shoalhaven Hospital from the pneumonia, which doctors drained and helped inflate, but her left lung did the same when she got to St. George.
‘The doctors showed us a CT scan which showed a normal lung. Then they showed us that hers (and) hers were just covered in holes,” Ms Locke said.
‘This was a result of her lungs being blocked by the pneumonia and the bug starting to lodge in the cavities of her lungs.’
Ms Timbery died on February 29.
Locke said Ms. Timbery’s mother in particular is having a hard time.
‘Unfortunately, because Ashley was so young, we didn’t have a funeral plan in place.’
The family demands donations to help with Mrs Timbery’s funeral costs.