Featured Image Credit: David Moody/Facebook
Topics: Health
Lucy Devine
A woman who thought she had a run of the mill sore throat ended up being rushed to hospital where she had her hands and feet amputated.
Sherri Moody, 51, from Texas, ended up with double pneumonia - which is pneumonia in both lungs - after a strep throat infection travelled to her organs and led to sepsis.
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Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection within the body.
The NHS explains that it happens when your own immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body's tissues and organs.
Teacher Sherri was on a school trip when she first started to feel unwell. Her throat felt scratchy and she assumed she had come down with a cold, but within days her symptoms had escalated.
Soon, she felt fatigued with a high fever and was suffering with breathing difficulties and vomiting.
Gasping for air one evening, Sherri woke her husband David and the pair headed straight to the hospital.
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Just days later and Sherri's organs began to fail, while her blood pressure dramatically dropped.
She was placed in a medically induced coma meanwhile doctors tried different medications to beat the infection.
"I recognised real quick that we were in a severe situation," David told Today.
"I was scared to pieces. I literally watched my wife's feet and hands die. They were black and mummified."
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Doctors weren't sure how Sherri had caught the initial infection, but medication she had taken prior to becoming unwell could have contributed.
Sherri had been taking pills for her autoimmune condition, rheumatoid arthritis. The medication suppressed the immune system, making a person more susceptible to infection.
Weeks after being admitted and Sherri was taken into theatre where her legs were amputated below the knee, followed by her arms below the elbow.
Sherri spent four months in hospital, followed by one month in rehab where she learned how to adapt to her loss of limbs.
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The teacher is now using a wheelchair while she waits to be fitted with prosthetics.
"I'm very mentally strong," she said.
"I just choose to be happy. It's not to say that I don't have a breakdown every now and then and just cry a bit. I don't let it last long."
David adds: “She is just amazing. I’ve had more struggles.
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“This is the most difficult thing that I’ve ever gone through in my life.”
A fundraising page has been set up on Facebook to help with Sherri's recovery. You can take a look here.