Pregnant woman loses her unborn baby, arms and legs

November 7, 2017 12:10

A pregnant woman has lost her unborn child and both of her arms and legs after contracting a deadly sepsis infection due to complications from her pregnancy.

Kayleigh Ferguson-Walker, 31, was six months pregnant with her second child in March when what seemed like a bad case of the flu quickly landed her in the ICU with kidney failure, labored breathing, and dropping blood pressure.

Kayleigh had developed the life-threatening sepsis infection that doctors discovered had already claimed the life of her unborn baby forcing a stillbirth upon arriving at the hospital.

While in a two-week medically-induced coma, gangrene set in and began killing her arms and legs making it clear the only way to save Kayleigh's life was to perform a rare quadruple amputation.

When Kayleigh emerged from her two-week coma she said she looked down and 'my hands and feet were pitch black, dead.'

Plastic surgeon Dr James Fletcher of Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said that Kayleigh came back to consciousness responsive and talkative but her limbs had become extremely toxic.

He said: 'Dead cells can get washed back into the body, so there was an urgency to act.'

Fletcher operated on Kayleigh's arms and hands on April 19. Her right arm was severed above the elbow and the left arm about three inches below the elbow.

Two days later, both of Kayleigh's legs were amputated below the knees.

Kayleigh likely contracted sepsis through a complication in her pregnancy caused by a rare condition known as incompetent cervix. Pressure from the growing baby may have caused the cervical tissue to open prematurely, increasing the risk of infection.

Dr Fletcher had to explain to Kayleigh and her family the choice to operate was life or death, amputation or brain damage. He said: 'It's a miracle she didn't die.'

Now Kayleigh is adjusting to life as a quadruple amputee, supported by her three-year-old daughter Aaliyah and husband Ramon.