Susan Sztybel, 67, from Stourport, thought a tiny cut from a broken wine glass was nothing serious — until a dangerous flesh-eating infection nearly cost her her life.
Susan was reaching into her kitchen cupboard when a wine glass fell and shattered. A sharp glass shard cut her right foot, leaving a small one-inch wound. She cleaned it, put on a plaster, and went to bed, thinking no more of it.
But within 24 hours, Susan began feeling feverish. The cut started bleeding and oozing pus. Concerned, she went to Alexandra Hospital in Redditch. Her condition worsened quickly, and she was transferred to Worcester Royal Hospital with sepsis, strep A, and cellulitis — infections that developed into a flesh-eating bacterial disease.
The infection spread rapidly up her leg into her groin. Doctors warned Susan that her chance of survival was low. She underwent multiple surgeries to remove the infected tissue and was treated with a vacuum machine to help clear the infection.
During her hospital stay, Susan says she hallucinated and feared death. “They say you see the pearly gates. I saw those,” she recalled. For weeks, she had to keep her leg raised above her heart almost all day.
After more than a month in hospital, Susan was moved to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for plastic surgery on her foot. Doctors took skin from her thigh to repair the damaged area. While her foot may not look the same, doctors say she will not have lasting effects from the infection.
Susan, a grandmother of eight and a carer by profession, is now warning others to take even small cuts seriously. “A tiny one-inch cut turned into something so massive,” she said. “If sharing my story saves others’ limbs or lives, it’s worth it. Act immediately if you think a cut is infected. I didn’t, and it nearly cost me everything.”
Related Topics:
