'I lost all 4 limbs to flu - Drs wrapped me up like mummy to stop kids seeing'

14 November 2023 , 12:24

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Kirstin Fox lost all four limbs after contracting flu and had to tell her two kids Landon (l) and Laiken (r) (Image: Kristin Fox)

A mum has spoken out about her harrowing ordeal after losing all four limbs to flu - and says kind doctors had to "wrap her up like a mummy" to stop her kids from being traumatised by the sight.

Kristin Fox lost her arms and legs after contracting the virus and has faced a harrowing journey to what is now her new normal. The 42-year-old high-school principal's ordeal started in March 2020, days before Covid-19 hit the world. It began with a sore throat which gradually got worse and she later tested positive for flu after having the flu vaccine in November.

She was given Tamiflu and sent home but could not move the following day. Kristin has told how she "felt like I was dying," and a friend who is a nurse came to her aid and took her to hospital. She added: "Within 30 minutes, I was on a ventilator, and they said I probably wouldn't make it."

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Kirstin Fox became a high school principal before her ordeal (Kristin Fox)

The mum had bacterial pneumonia and her organs were failing to function as she went into septic shock. They even brought in a priest as they did not think she would survive the night and she was put in a medically induced coma.

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But on March 26, her life changed when doctors told her family they would need to amputate her legs the next day. Medics said if they had waited the infection would spread to her knees, worsening her quality of life. Her legs were amputated below her knees the following day. Her arms became increasingly worse, before she lost them on April 6.

Kirstin being assessed by doctors after her amputations (Kristin Fox)

She considers herself "lucky" her arms were cut off just below the elbow. After being brought out of her coma. She was confused and did not know what was happening in the world with the Covid pandemic.

The mum from Ohio told Fox News: "They literally wrapped me like a mummy because I didn't want my kids to see — I hadn’t told them yet about losing my arms and legs." The mum finally told her nine-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. She said: "Between that and Covid, it was so much for little kids to wrap their minds around."

Kirstin Fox with her daughter Laiken after her arm amputations (Kristin Fox)

Kirstin after one of her operations (Kristin Fox)

She began a programme of physical therapy at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Rehabilitation Institute and had six weeks of intense therapy which took up to three hours a day. After returning home had some scary moments when her lung collapsed again leading to doctors inserting a chest tube. before having to undergo six more weeks of therapy at Pittsburgh.

Kirstin and her family at her first annual softball tournament, which helped to raise funds for her care (Kristin Fox)

And seven months after her ordeal started she was fitted with prosthetic arms and legs, which signalled the start of a new beginning and journey. She said: "It was a huge learning curve .It was like trial and error of what worked and what didn't."

Graeme Murray