My wife is recovering from Necrotizing Fasciitis. I read Donna's story in the hospital in Colorado Springs. My wife was diagnosed with group a streptococcus with a necrotizing fasciitis. It began at some small cracks in her heal callus and progressed to her ankle and then up her leg. She began to feel dizzy with flu like symptoms and went to her doctor, he gave her some stuff for what he thought was a "hair follicle infection" and on the way to the hospital he said that she would need a blood test with the sonogram to test for blood clots.

The tests results showed that her white blood cell count was 20,000-- way high and they called her back to the hospital three hours later. She also had serious leg cramps. An infectious disease specialist was called to the hospital and he recognized what he was looking at. I was on my knees praying for answers. We had to operate and thought they might have to amputate her leg and to think she was walking on it a day earlier.

She was given a 50-50 chance of survival and after surgery one of her many specialists gave her a 10% chance of survival, even though they only removed an area of skin over her lower leg muscle (gastrocnemius).

Her blood pressure had dropped to 70/30, her kidneys failed, her pancreas failed, and her liver failed leaving her yellow, swollen and without the pressure -regulated ventilator stuffed in her failed lungs, 100% oxygen and a blood gas level at 85% she was dead, dead, dead!

But those machines and those specialists were one step ahead of each thing that went wrong. She developed pneumonia and I watched her for days paralyzed with nocuron so she wouldn't move. And ......then after 20 days she was awake and unaware of what had been going on. Now she is in the hospital and she can walk 100 ft with the walker in front of her and is using the 1 liter of oxygen keeping her lungs up to appropriate levels.

All the surgery has begun to heal. She's still bandaged and since she has been out for so long all of her muscles don't work so well. She's in therapy to help her get strength back. The biggest and most costly result was the insult to her lungs from the toxic shock.

I had to watch this happen to her, and her daughter and I saw what looked like. She died over and over and slowly stop dying, and then to slowly begin to live. That was a misery that she will never understand, watching her like that. The loved ones suffer with the feeling of helplessness. She lost a large amount of skin from the back of her leg and was in ICU for 30 days, but she's alive.

When the infectious disease specialist became involved was where the saving of her life truly began he was one happy doctor when she finally opened her eyes. Having the infection is one thing, but what it does to your body does from the toxins is the bad part.

I have studied this since the onset and it is absolutely incredible that that anyone lives through this and even now I have a hard time with the accepting of it. there are so many questions, how did this happen or why...what is this going to do to the future? Many things are possible so for now, I will bring her some thing good to eat and help her live past this terror.

She will be able to come home Saturday on a day pass for her daughter's birthday. I hope that she will be able to be comfortable. I would just love to be able to tell the whole story...but there will be time for that later.