Cosmic Kev

Cosmic Kev

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Sad: Mom Loses Arms & Legs After Complications From a Common Cold

Sad: Mom Loses Arms & Legs After Complications From a Common Cold

It is crazy to think that something that we all go through could lead to something so serious!

A mother-of-six had to have her hands and legs amputated after what started as a common cold turned into life-threatening pneumonia and a blood infection.

 

Tiffany King, 38, was rushed to a hospital in Provo, Utah, in mid-January after waking up in the middle of the night with difficulty breathing.She slipped into a coma and was diagnosed with viral and bacterial pneumonia that lead to sepsis - giving her a 15 percent chance of survival.

 

When she woke up from the coma at the end of January, she was told that both of her hands and both of her legs would need to be amputated.Nearly two months later Tiffany is undergoing physical therapy and has her mind set on being able to walk down the aisle at her wedding in October.Tiffany is a dental technician living in Springsville, Utah, with her fiancé Moale Fonohema and their six kids ages four to 27 - three of whom are hers, two are his and one they adopted together.

 

When Tiffany was in her 20s she found out she carried a gene for a severe type of arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis that affects the spine and large joints in the body.

 

To treat it, she started taking Humera, an immunosuppressant that weakens the immune system.

 

In mid-January Tiffany came down with a cold, and one night she woke up with trouble breathing, so her fiance - nicknamed Moe - brought her to a 24-hour clinic.

 

From there she was sent in an ambulance to a hospital in Provo where she slipped into a coma and was diagnosed with viral and bacterial pneumonia.

 

Pneumonia is an infection that causes inflammation in the lungs and is most commonly caused by bacteria and viruses - or in Tiffany's case, both.

 

Viral pneumonia invades the lungs and cases swelling that blocks the flow of oxygen and increases the likelihood of developing bacterial pneumonia, which infects and inflames the air sacs in the lungs causing them to fill up with fluid.

 

The combination of the swelling and the fluid explains why Tiffany was unable to breathe.While she was in the coma and being treated for the pneumonia, her liver and kidneys began to fail.

 

By the end of January Tiffany had developed sepsis, a life-threatening blood infection that kills 30 percent of patients.

 

Sepsis occurs in response to an infection, commonly pneumonia, when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight an infection cause inflammation throughout the body.

 

It also critically-low blood pressure that can lead to organ failure.Tiffany's chances of survival went from 70 percent to 30 to 15 in a matter of days.

 

'Doctors said that we should start making (funeral) arrangements,' Moe told People.

 

He stayed by her bedside every night waiting for her to wake up.

 

'It was scary, but I knew that she could get through it. She's a tough person and I wasn't about to give up on her. To be honest, we have wedding plans and I knew that we both wanted more than anything to see them happen.' -(Megan Sheets, Daily Mail)

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