A woman has been forced to have her leg amputated after she cut herself shaving and developed a flesh-eating infection.
Tanya Czernozukow, 43, nicked herself on her right shin whilst shaving and - like you would - thought very little of it. The cut began to get larger and scabbed to the size of a five pence coin, before growing massively and turning into a 'huge hole' on her leg.
Doctors spent a year and a half trying to stop the infection spreading up her leg, but after spending a long time in so much pain, Tanya agreed that the best course of action was to amputate the leg above her right knee.
She tried all kinds of treatments, including maggots, to rid herself of the bug, but in the end, there was no other option but to cut off part of the leg.
The problem was, she had developed a leg ulcer, which then became infected with gangrene. Luckily, the infection was stopped after the lower part of her leg was cut off. She is no longer in pain and can resume her life.
Tanya, from Derbyshire, said: "It has been an absolute nightmare.
"It was just a little nick. I just went 'ouch' and thought nothing of it. I've done it a thousand times before so I just put a bit of tissue on it and expected it to stop bleeding.
"Within a few weeks it was green and black from my ankle right up to my knees. The pain was absolutely sheer hell.
"I had to take more and more painkillers. It was a constant feeling of thousands of needles being stuck into me.
"I used to sit with my leg in a plastic bag - there used to be that much fluid seeping out of it, I felt like I was in a horror movie."
She continued: "After a while it looked like gangrene. It looked like I had a flesh-eating bug. It just kept growing and growing and growing.
"It got to the point when I just said to the doctors, 'take it off. I want it gone'.
"When I first came around I got one hell of a shock. There was only inches of my leg left. It was just complete and utter shock. To see it gone was like waking up in a nightmare."
The initial cut happened back in 2014, but the problem got steadily worse after that. After being urged to go to the doctors by her mum, she eventually had to attend A&E once the pain became unbearable.
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She was forced to quit her job as a result of the infection. She tried everything, including biotherapy, which involves putting medical maggots onto the skin to eat away at the dead skin.
She continued: "They did biotherapy which involves attaching maggots to your leg. For 24 hours I was screaming in agony.
"By the third time I went into hospital, it covered my whole leg.
"It was just completely infected. It was too far gone. It was too little, too late."
That meant amputation.
Thankfully, it was a success, and Tanya is now looking forward to getting a car, having a prosthetic leg fitted and getting back to work.
She said: "As strange as it sounds, I don't regret the operation one bit.
"I am looking to go back to work. Mentally, I think I am pretty much almost there. That's the next step in my life.
"I am getting a car, that's going to be life-changing. Once I have got the car I will look into getting a prosthetic leg."
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