Michelle Brown's daughter Kylei contracted flesh-eating bacteria during a family holiday in Florida. Photo / GoFundMe
Michelle Brown's daughter Kylei contracted flesh-eating bacteria during a family holiday in Florida. Photo / GoFundMe
Warning: Graphic images.
What was meant to be a family fun vacation, quickly turned into a nightmare for an American mother whose 12-year-old daughter contracted flesh-eating bacteria during a family trip to Florida.
Earlier this month, Michelle Brown from Indiana told the WKRG television channel that her family had arrived in the city of Destin amid a couple of days of stormy weather on June 7.
A few days after the storm passed, they finally hit the beach, but huge waves prevented them from swimming and they could only walk along the beach.
"The waves were extremely high. Too dangerous to get in the water. They had people patrolling the beach to keep people out of the water. We were only allowed to get in ankle deep," Brown said.
The next day things turned for the worst for Kylei, who woke up with pain in her right leg.
Assuming it may just be a charlie horse, the family went on about their day. However the next day, Kylei was in unbearable pain to the point she couldn't walk.
"At that point, I had to put her on my back and carry her around," her mother said.
As they made their way back to Indianapolis, Brown called her doctor for an immediate appointment.
"They notice she's in extreme pain, but they can't really determine what it is that's going on."
The doctor advised Brown to pack a bag for her daughter and her to the ER. Between that time, Kylei's condition escalated as she had a fever, swelling and a red line down her calf.
Doctors determined it was flesh-eating bacteria. Photo / Facebook
"Everything started going downhill quickly because, to sum things up, she had contracted a bacteria somehow that had already turned into an infection," Brown wrote on Facebook.
"It was an aggressive infection and had already spread up her leg to her thigh."
Doctors noticed a pocket of infection was behind Kylei's knee, making her condition, critical.
After ruling out a blood clot, doctors diagnosed her as having contracted necrotising fasciitis, caused by a very rare flesh-eating bacteria.
"They were taking her into emergency surgery trying to remove the infection from her leg. and doing that, they were trying to save her leg and save her because the infection was moving so rapidly," said Brown.
Kylei in hospital. Photo / GoFundMe
"She developed septic shock. She had a second surgery. She improved some and we were able to leave PICU and go to a regular room and floor.
"She had a third surgery, which they didn't find any more infection so they closed it, placing the wound vac to suction anything that may seep out of the incision."
According to Brown, her daughter's condition worsened the next day, and she needed four different antibiotics to fight the infection.
After a week of being in hospital, Kylei was finally well enough to go home.
Michelle now wants to warn others about the risks. Photo / Facebook
Necrotising fasciitis is a rare bacterial infection that spreads quickly in the body and can cause death. Rapid antibiotic treatment and surgery to remove the infection are crucial in treatment. Even with treatment, up to one in three people diagnosed with the infection die.
"Kylei is doing better and stabilised, but she is still sick and we have a long road of recovery to go," Brown wrote.
"We are taking oral antibiotics as well as IV antibiotics three times a day and pain meds every four hours."
Kylei's mother believed her daughter contracted the infection through a scrape on her toe, which was exposed to the water during their trip to the beach during their vacation.
Kylei has to have many months of therapy ahead to learn to walk again.
Brown said she hopes her story resonates with parents to be careful this summer, as they prepare for many beach-filled days.
"There are warning signs. but the time you are seeing the warning signs it's running rampant in your body and it does damage very, very quickly," said Brown.
"I wanted to share her story in hopes that it may help save someone else. It is critical to be aware of the signs and symptoms and getting treatment quickly."
