FLESH-EATING BUG B LEFT MOTHER ON BRINK OF DEATH
Lesley almost killed after suffering tiny scratch while playing dodgeball
left side and it was the breast because that was one of my last memories that they were scanning my chest.
“But I didn’t know what I had or what I’d done.
“I think my initial surprise was that I’d been asleep for so long. To find out that it was over a week was quite shocking.
“It was just my husband who was there when I woke up. He never left my side.”
Due to the complicated operations and damage to her tissue, Lesley was then transferred 42 miles from the MCH Westeinde in The Hague to the Dutch Burn Centre in Beverwijk near Amsterdam.
She was forced to spend two months in medical care. Lesley said she had to relearn basic dayto-day activities such as walking, writing and brushing her teeth.
This determination meant that, to the surprise of her doctors, Lesley was able to return home to her family just two months after her ordeal began.
She added: “I was treated as a burns patient. The doctors don’t know how I managed to survive. I shouldn’t be here really.
“They waited until I wasn’t critical and put on like a vacuum thing to heal the wound to take away the bacteria and allow the healing.
“I went on to have four skin grafts. They grafted from my left leg. There were several surgeries and I took each day to try and improve my strength. When I left Holland, I was still using a wheelchair.
“I had to continue building my strength back up.
“I came back to Scotland but wasn’t able to go back to my life as it was before. I still couldn’t walk a great distance or carry out tasks like I used to.
“My day- to- day life was no longer how it was. I was tired – very tired – all of the time and on a lot of pain relief.
“I feel my mind is 100% but my body just can’t keep up with me.
“I’m getting there. I’ve returned to fitness and my physio and I’m trying to build my strength up but it’s a long journey and I have years of surgeries ahead to reconstruct and improve my scars.
“The support of my family and friends has helped me entirely. They’ve all been by my side.
“I’ve never been short of help. It’ s been amazing and overwhelming.”
Lesley said she wanted to share the story about her incredible fight in a bid to warn others that even the slightest health issues could develop into serious conditions.
She added: “My message to others would be ‘don’t ever take life for granted’.
“I was always the type of person that thought you would get through anything.
“What started off as what I thought was a cold or flu was a lot worse than it was.
“People should always get themselves checked if they have health issues – no matter how little they are.”
Lesley’s friends have launched a fundraiser to help her with recovery.
Readers wanting to support it should go to www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/LesleyKane.
My family and friends have been amazing