Woman thought she had flu, but it was flesh-eating disease

Health

By Tracy Swartz

A mom of two from Scotland feels “lucky to be alive” after a rare flesh-eating disease left her with a butt wound 20 centimeters deep.

It “looks like a peach that someone has taken a huge bite out of on one side,” Tracy de Jongh Eglin, 59, lamented to SWNS.

The former events manager, who now lives in the Netherlands, said she began displaying flu-like symptoms on Jan. 20 — she was rushed to the hospital five days later after going into septic shock and collapsing.

Medics identified a large black mass on her left buttock, and Eglin was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a life-threatening bacterial infection.

She spent nine days in a coma and underwent three surgeries to remove the infected tissue and muscle — her family was reportedly told that she only had a 10% chance of survival. Miraculously, she pulled through.

“It’s been so traumatic and changed my life forever,” Eglin said. “I’ve lost [70 pounds] and had to learn to walk again. Even now, I still can’t sit down and have to take a special pillow out with me wherever I go.”

Eglin’s husband, Aldrik, 65, grew concerned in January when his wife began sweating profusely and struggled to walk.

She was taken to Gelderland Valley Hospital in the Netherlands, where she was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis. The rapidly progressive infection destroys soft tissue.

“My husband had to drive behind the ambulance, not knowing whether I’d come out of it alive,” Eglin described.

The cause of the infection is not clear, although doctors reportedly informed Eglin that it could have been from something as simple as an ingrown hair or a spot.

“My family were told to prepare for the worst — they didn’t think I’d make it,” Eglin recalled. “I spent nine days in a coma, and when I finally came to, I was incredibly disorientated and kept hallucinating.”

Eglin was convinced she was a 17-year-old staying in a five-star hotel. She said she had forgotten how to speak Dutch.

“I woke up to a catheter, a stoma, and a 20-centimeter-deep wound — it took two hours every day for the nurses to change my bandages and clean my wounds,” she added.

Her catheter was removed after eight months, but she will reportedly need a colostomy bag for the rest of her life.

She stayed six weeks in a hospital, before being moved to a rehabilitation center, where she spent several weeks undergoing physiotherapy, psychotherapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy.

“I was left completely broken and had to rebuild my life. I was so weak, my voice changed, and I had to learn how to walk again,” Eglin said.

“The physical recovery has been incredibly painful, but mentally I’ve struggled the most,” she continued.

Despite the trauma, Eglin says her ordeal has changed her outlook on life — and her relationship with her family — for the better.

“The only good thing to come from all of this is that I feel closer to my husband than ever before,” she gushed. “It’s like we’ve fallen in love all over again — our relationship has improved immeasurably.”

She recommends people seek medical attention if a bad case of flu seems to turn into something else.

“Without the quick thinking of my husband and the speed of the doctors and ambulance service, I would not be here,” she emphasized.