I do not know if any of you have heard of MRSA before but it is a real bad staph infection. It’s named Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. The MRSA had gone for so long undiagnosed that it got into my blood stream and caused a bacterial infection, Necrotizing Fasciitis. I am a NF and MRSA survivor. Here is my story. My name is Helena Glenn, I am a 20-year-old female from Camden, South Carolina. When school started in August, I went to a local doctor. I went in for a yearly check up and I had these bumps on my right leg and they didn’t itch or nothing like that. They just HURT really badly. They told me they were insect bites or fleabites. Well, I kept calling them and they told me to put Neosporin and Bacitracin on them. They still kept saying the same thing as I kept calling because they kept getting worse. Then the bumps went to my left leg. By this time, it is about late November, and my knee on my left leg began to swell. It started to sell and looked like a very large blister waiting to bust. These are no ordinary bumps mind you. The bumps are a deep red on the outside but on the inside, it was black.

By December, they were no better but worse. Seeing as though that doctor was not helping I went to a local Dr’s Care 12/01/04 through 12/04/04. On December 2nd, they done a culture and a lot of blood work. On 12/04/04, my knee busted. The tissue beneath my knee was so inflamed with the infection it busted out of my knee. I went back to Dr’s Care, the doctor took one look at my knee and told me to go straight to the hospital and get put on IV antibiotics, and he would call and inform the hospital of what was going on. I was finally sent to a room and the nurse’s started asking questions about what happened.

Dr. Joseph Jackson was on call and in surgery but he rushed in. He took one look at my knee and wanted to know who left my knee get as bad as it did. So, I continued to tell him how it became about. The anesthesiologists started prepping me to have my knee drained. Dr. Jackson thought he would just have to drain my knee but when he opened it up, he was shocked at what he saw. He rushed to operate on my knee and he took all the infection out. As he was operating, he watched the NF eating up the fascia of my leg. He thought he would have to amputate my leg because it was racing up toward my hip. My parents later told me, as he was preparing them for the worst he started to cry and prayed for me.
While at Kershaw I was quarantined to my own room. I had my own plastic stethoscope, and when family and friends came to visit me they hade to put on operating type gowns and gloves.

On December 8th, I was discharged and sent by ambulance to Palmetto Richland Memorial in Columbia. On the ride there, my temperature rose to 107 degrees. The surgeons at Richland said it was the cleanest debridement they have ever seen. They had to operate on me two times a day or more to do debridements. I received hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBO). I never heard of it before so I thought I was going to watch movies LOL!! Around January 11th, they have done a full thickness skin graft. They took the skin from my right thigh. My leg looks good considering everything. It has healed considerably fast since I have been home. My surgeon prescribed a Jobst compression stocking to help with circulation, swelling and it also helps with scarring. Before I left the hospital, the doctors told me that I might not get my feelings or all my nerves back in my leg. But then they also told me that I wouldn’t get full control back of my knee but I can proudly say that I have regained it all!

The latest news is I noticed bumps about a week ago popping up on my left leg and I went to Dr’s Care on Tuesday and she said the 4 letters that I dread to hear. When she did, my heart sank. She said that they now know what it is and told me it will not get as bad as before because she knows what it is and how to treat him. Since I been home I worried that I still had it and my worst fear came true. The doctor seems to think that I came home with it and was shocked to learn that before I left the hospital they did not do a culture of my nose before I left.

Update April 2, 2007:
I am now married for one year!!! We dated for 5 and he proposed to me soon as I got home and took me to a local Red Lobster. We now have a 9 month old son.

If anyone needs someone to talk to please do not hesitate to email me. I will answer any of your questions. I wish I had someone to talk to who had been through what I was going through. I am attaching pictures of my leg. They are very GRAPHIC so view them at your own risk.

Please note: The following linked images are very graphic and may be upsetting.

Images of Helena's Experience