‘Holiday bug bite almost killed me’
A mum feared she would lose her leg when she contracted a flesh-eating infection after being bitten by a bug on holiday. Faye Wilkes, of Dartford, was left unable to walk days after feeling a sharp nip on her foot while relaxing in Benidorm. Her leg blistered and swelled and the 41-year-old claims she was turned away from a Spanish hospital as medics thought she was a “typical drunk Brit”. The personal assistant was on holiday with her sister to cheer themselves up after losing their father Raymond to lung cancer in 2016.
She had to cut her holiday short to get medical help in the UK after her leg blistered and became infected.
The mother-of-one was rushed from Gatwick Airport to East Surrey Hospital, where she was told she had contracted a flesh-eating infection, which happens when bacteria enters a wound, causing sepsis and doctors warned she need her leg amputated. Ms Wilkes was pumped with seven types of antibiotics and spent more than four months in intensive care. But she has been left traumatised by the ordeal and is still recovering from her holiday nightmare.
“We hoped to spend a week soaking up the sun and sipping cocktails, but it turned into a holiday from hell after I was bitten by an insect.
“I think it was either a dirty spider or mosquito that brought this pain and distress upon me but I will never know.
“The main thing is that I’m alive and I still have my left leg and foot - but I know I still have a long way to go until I’m out of the woods.”