A mother-of-two had both her legs and her all her fingers amputated after contracting deadly blood poisoning that left her in a coma.

Tracy Ralph, from Essex, was out for a run on Christmas Eve when she began to feel out of breath.

When her condition declined, she was taken to hospital where doctors suspected pneumonia.

Within 24 hours, doctors had placed the 35-year-old in an induced coma as they battled to save her life.

She contracted blood poisoning - known medically as septicaemia - as a result of pneumonia, as well as blood clots, a bleed on the brain and complete organ failure.

Her husband Brad had to break the devastating news that doctors would have to amputate her legs and fingers, which had turned black.

In a haze of medication, she even tried to escape from hospital as she tried to come to terms with her condition.

Now, six months later, she walking again after members of the public – including celebrities Alan Carr, Robbie Savage and Deborah Meaden - raised an astonishing £100,000 to help her get prosthetic limbs.

Mrs Ralph's first memory of coming out of the induced coma, on New Year's Eve, was seeing her blackened hands.

She said: 'When I looked down at my hands and saw my hands and fingers were like claws, they had shrivelled up and they had bent over and they were black.

'I remember looking at them think "oh they're bad".

'My feet were black. I'm not entirely sure why but I never knew I was going to lose them.

'I never thought I would. I thought "I'll go home, have a nice bath and they'll be alright". 

That's what I thought would happen, clearly that was never going to be the case.'

Mrs Ralph recalls the moment in early January her husband told her she would lose her legs.

She said: 'I think my husband Brad told me I was going to lose my legs but by this stage I couldn't do anything with my legs.

'They were hard, they were heavy and my hands looked so bad I just wanted them to be amputated in order for me to get to the next stage.

At one point, she began to escape as the medicines she was being given caused her to become confused and distressed.

She said: 'I just pulled the things out and thought "where am I, what are they doing, get me out of here".

'I didn't know what all these people were doing, I couldn't talk throughout all of this.

'I couldn't communicate, it's awful. I can't think about it too much.

'Thinking about it gives me really dark thoughts. I pushed through because of my children and Brad.'

Doctors used an Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine to keep her alive, but it couldn't save her fingers and legs.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a treatment that uses a pump to circulate blood through an artificial lung back into the bloodstream, bypassing a person's heart and lungs.

Mrs Ralph said: 'The ECMO machine is the last chance of life once there's nothing else that can be done that's what they bring in and it works on behalf of your lungs.

'Because I had a bleed on the brain they couldn't give me some drugs whilst I was on the ECMO machine. So consequently that's why I lost my fingers and my legs.'

Mrs Ralph, who worked at a department store before she got ill, also had a tracheostomy to unblock and obstruction in her windpipe and help her breathe.

After her legs were amputated in mid-January she was moved to a high dependency ward to begin her physiotherapy.

She said: 'In high dependency is when I got really depressed, that's when I realised I didn't have my fingers or my legs and they were doing physio on me in the ward and that ward is to prepare you to get back to a normal ward, that's when I got very low.'

She spent a month at St Thomas' Hospital in London before being transferred to Southend Hospital.

And that proved a real boost as her family - including sons Miller and Hudson - could visit her more easily.

She added: 'They transferred me back to Southend and it was a relief, I felt less anxious when I came back to Southend, to be back took all the anxiety away.

'My eldest son Miller, is five, and he had come to visit once in London and my youngest Hudson who is 23 months old that was the first time I saw him.

'It was very hard, he hadn't seen me in such a long while I felt he didn't remember me.

'We've had to rebond and it's taken me a long while to rebuild that relationship but with my eldest I've managed to do that more easily but for my youngest it's more of an adjustment.

'That was quite sad and it used to make me very upset because he wouldn't come to me, that was really difficult.'

Now well on the road to recovery Mrs Ralph says she can't wait to return to normal.

Nearly six months to the day, has learned to walk on prosthetic legs.

She said: 'It feels good to be back home and now because of the fund I can start to get back to normal and get on with my life.

'I always think how I'm going to thank everyone for what they have done for me.

'So many people have come forward to help, they've given up their time and money to support me and the things they have done are overwhelming.'

Well-wishers have run half marathons, held charity dinners, baked cakes and even shaved their heads to help raise vital funds.

Mrs Ralph said: 'I received a letter when I was in hospital from a woman in France.

'She had written the wrong address, but it still got to me and I couldn't believe that this elderly lady from France even knew about me.

She says the ordeal has made her feel lucky to be alive, and she is now 'more grateful for the small things in life'.

She said: 'It's really overwhelming. All of this has changed the way I think about my life and how I approach things.

'Even the small things in life now I'm grateful for. I remember the first time I saw the sky after being in hospital for so long, it was just and even getting myself a glass of water when for so long in hospital I wasn't allowed anything to drink.

'I really treasure moments with my children and my husband and I'm very lucky to have some very close friends and family.

'I'm so thankful for everything and the fund means I now have a future. I wouldn't be here without it.'

Mrs Ralph's home has now been adapted with hand rails, ramps and is completely open plan downstairs thanks to the kindness and generosity of local builders..'

Now she is back on her feet, she even hopes one day she will be able to run again.

She misses running with her club, Essex Ladies, and running around with her sons.

She said: 'Before I was training for the half-marathon, with having two children I never had time for the gym so that's why I started running.

'It's something I really want to get back into but I just don't know how long it will take. I've got to focus on walking let alone running.

'I would love to run, I miss running so much, just how it makes you feel. The first time I do I think I'll be sobbing my eyes out.

'Apparently with the legs I've got are quite advanced and you can run.

'I want things yesterday rather than give myself time and the physio would say we need to slow it down Tracy.

'I could walk pretty much straight away when I put the prosthetic legs on I was quite lucky. It came quite easy to me. 

'I push myself a lot more because I've got children and I hate missing out but I'm so glad I'm alive to be with them.'