A mum begged doctors to amputate her leg when a flesh-eating disease ate through her skin. Teresa Jones developed a flesh-eating bug in both of her legs after noticing small marks that looked like bug bites.Her legs quickly turned black and then their skin started to die.
The 59-year-old was left housebound for a year due to the agonising pain and she had to watch as nurses cut away chunks of skin with scissors.In July last year, Teresa was diagnosed with Pyoderma Gangrenosum (PG).
When medics suggested amputating her right leg, the mum-of-two said she was more than happy to accept because she wanted the ordeal to be over.Thankfully, another doctor stepped in and said they thought the limb could be saved.“They were going to amputate my leg at the knee,” Teresa, from Stowmarket, Suffolk, said.
“I was in so much pain that I wanted the leg off.I would have happily given them my leg to stop the agony and I’ve got two daughters so I wanted to live for them.The pain was indescribable.
“It was horrendous. I’d never experienced pain like it and I’ve got a high pain threshold.Bits of my leg were falling off and they had to cut chunks off with scissors.It was terrifying to look down and see bits of me being chopped off.
“I was housebound for a year and I can’t lay on the bed because I can’t bear the covers touching them so I was on a chair in the living room the whole time.I can’t bear for them to be touched. If anyone goes near them, I scream the place down.
“Another doctor decided it was worth trying to save it.I’ve got horrendous scarring on my legs from where the flesh has fallen away but I don’t care. “
Teresa had to quit her job as a factory worker due to the disease. Nurses visit Teresa at home every two weeks to change her dressings and she has an infusion every other month.
While her left leg has started to heal and she’s able to drive short distances, her right leg hasn’t shown any signs of improvement. Teresa was hospitalised with a UTI in 2020 and when she was sent home, she noticed what looked like a small bite on her left leg.
The small mark turned into a large, weeping scan that wrapped around her whole leg.One year later, she noticed a second mark on her right leg that also started to develop.She was eventually admitted to the hospital in January last year when so much of her flesh had fallen off her right leg that the bone was left fully exposed.
After a biopsy, she was diagnosed with PG.According to the NHS website, Pyoderma gangrenosum is a rare skin condition that causes large, painful ulcers that usually appear on the chest or legs.Teresa said: “I was admitted to hospital for two weeks to have the dressings changed every day.I was heavily sedated due to the pain.
“A thick, black scab developed over the ulcer and underneath it was yellow, dying flesh.They tried lots of different dressings but they never got better.”
Teresa is sharing her story to raise awareness of the condition because doctors struggled to diagnose her. She added: “My left leg seems to be healing slowly, it used to wrap around my whole leg but now it’s about two inches.
“The right leg isn’t getting any better. A lot of doctors hadn’t heard of it and it’s really frustrating when you’re trying to get diagnosed.
“If anyone suspects that they have it then they should push for a biopsy.I just want to be healthy for my children and live a normal life.”