A small cut caused by slipping on her wet driveway cost Michelle Wardrope her leg, and almost claimed her life.
“I just thought it would need a few stitches, and everything would be fine after that,” the 44-year-old said.
“But apparently I was wrong.”
Just hours after the cut below her right knee was patched up with six stitches at the Proserpine Hospital, the Airlie Beach mother woke up in “excruciating pain”.
Her partner, Ben Brown, took her straight back to the emergency department, where it became clear something was very wrong.
“In a matter of an hour, her leg just started to swell up and a really bad smell came from it,” Mr Brown said.
“It seriously smelled like death.”
Ms Wardrope had contracted gas gangrene, a rare and highly lethal bacterial infection of the soft tissue.
She spent 13 days in a coma in the Mackay Base Hospital in April, during which she experienced terrifying hallucinations while doctors battled to save her life.
“My partner was told I had a 2 per cent chance of survival,” Ms Wardrope said.
“Multiple times he was told to prepare for my funeral.
“It was scary to think I was that close to losing everything — not seeing my son again and not seeing my partner again.”
In the end, doctors were forced to amputate her leg to save her life.
Losing her leg
When she regained consciousness, Ms Wardrope discovered her right leg had been amputated from the hip.
“I looked everywhere for it and couldn’t find it,” she said.
“Then I was trying to work out how to call my partner to tell him that my leg was gone.”
Two months after slipping on her cement driveway, she still has not brought herself to look at the wound where her leg once was.
“I still have the phantom leg pains and stuff, so my brain still thinks it’s there,” she said.
Once stable, Ms Wardrope was transferred to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Brisbane for weeks of extra treatment.
Rare and nasty infection
Gas gangrene is a rare infection, with fewer than 100 cases reported in Australia every year.
The bacterial infection is named after the foul-smelling gas that is emitted while the body’s muscles die, and has traditionally been associated with war wounds.
Associate Professor Krispin Hajkowicz, a senior staff specialist in infectious diseases at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, said the dangerous bacteria, called clostridium, could be found in all soil.
“It’s right up there with one of the nastiest bacteria we’ll see – it’s certainly one of the most challenging,” Dr Hajkowicz said.
“Once you have a really good going infection that’s out of control, then an amputation unfortunately is quite likely.
“There’s only so much that things like antibiotics can do — you’ve got to just get the dead tissue out of the body.”
Dr Hajkowicz said it was vital to clean cuts thoroughly with soap and water and seek medical attention for deeper wounds.
“[Michelle] was obviously pretty unlucky because normally when we see gas gangrene, it’s in the context of much more severe trauma,” he said.
“Things like motor vehicle accidents or sometimes we see it in farmers who’ve maybe come off a tractor or a quad bike … usually with a lot of soil contamination.”
Road to recovery
After two months in hospital, Ms Wardrope has returned home to Airlie Beach with her family, where she is learning to adjust to her life.
Eventually, she will be fitted with a prosthetic leg.
“Even the doctors have been astounded by her movements and her healing and her determination to get up and get on crutches and the walker,” Mr Brown said.
“She’s a real inspiration.”
The experience has been financially taxing for the family, who spent $12,000 on four trips to Brisbane to be by Ms Wardrope’s side.
Mr Brown has had to give up work as a painter and Ms Wardrope has been unable to homeschool her nine-year-old son Ollie.
Community members have raised thousands of dollars to support them.
Ms Wardrope said the ordeal had brought the family closer.
“Just knowing how close I was to death, it definitely makes you really think about what’s important and what’s really necessary to live,” she said.
“The only advice I could give is that no matter how small the cut … just go straight to the doctor and … make sure that it’s nice and clean and been looked at.
“Because it might be just a small cut, but obviously it can definitely turn into something a lot worse.”