Surviving Flesh-eating bacteria: Tara’s story

Flair spoke to Tara about the period in which she was ill, the amputations and her ‘new’ life.

“Before I became infected with the flesh-eating bacteria, I led a normal life. I am the mother of an eight-year-old daughter and a seventeen-year-old son and also worked as a chef in a kitchen. Outside of everyday life we ​​loved to do fun things: we went on many trips as a family and my husband and I also went out regularly. That changed when I started to feel unwell more and more often in December 2018.”

“For a while I had a fever, I vomited a lot and I suffered from diarrhoea. Although I don’t normally go to the emergency room that quickly, my intuition told me it was good to do so in this case. They examined me briefly, after which I was sent home with a box of painkillers. “It will pass,” I thought back then.

“Two days later I didn’t feel better, but much worse. It felt like there wasn’t a single drop of fluid left in my body. My husband called the ambulance, who picked me up. Once in the hospital I turned out to be so dehydrated that my organs were already shutting down and I was in shock. The doctors decided to put me in an artificial coma, in which I had to stay for a month.”

“While I was in a coma, several tests were done, including a blood test. It soon turned out that I was infected with the flesh-eating bacteria, which slowly caused my skin and muscles to die. When I woke up from the artificial coma, my family already knew about it, but I didn’t yet. Only when I saw my completely black colored forearms and legs did I realize that something was really wrong.”

“I didn’t know then that both my forearms and legs would be amputated not much later. The doctors still had hope that my lower legs would be partially salvageable, so that I could continue to walk with prostheses after the amputation. Where we normally lived under the assumption that hope brings life, that was not the case this time. My legs and forearms were beyond saving.”

“When I heard that, I felt as shocked as when I was put into a coma. I didn’t want to miss my arms and legs, nor the life I enjoyed so much. I wanted to be able to be a good mother to my children – and an independent woman to both my partner and myself. Eventually I realized that I had to turn the switch, because I didn’t want to give up my life. Together with my husband and children, we decided to make the best of it.”

“After the operation I woke up without forearms and legs. That was as intense as it sounds. No one wants to experience it, but it was my reality and would be forever. Looking at myself was difficult for me; that which had been there all along was suddenly no longer there. I ended up in a kind of grieving process, in which I had to accept my new self as it was, but actually didn’t want that at all.

“Four years later I am learning to look at myself and life with a new perspective. It’s not that I’m happy with what happened, but I’m accepting it more and more. In many cases of infection with the flesh-eating bacteria you are dead within twenty-four hours. It makes me feel like I’ve been given a second chance, because I’m still here.

“Days when it is difficult are still there. Then I put on music and cry for a while, but then go back to business. After all, life is so much more than having arms and legs or not. I have a lovely husband and two wonderful children. I can go outside and enjoy myself more often than not. Besides, I would never give up. With or without a disability, life is more than worth living.”

_{Bron: Tara De Bolle}