Woman shares horrifying before and after images of foot amputation after mistake caused gangrene

By JADA BAS

Published: 17:07 BST, 7 May 2025 | Updated: 17:14 BST, 7 May 2025

A horrified woman developed gangrene in her foot and was forced to have it amputated after contracting a deadly bacterial infection in hospital.

In a Facebook post that’s been shared widely, Alicia Johnson documented the terrible ordeal that almost cost her life.

Ms Johnson was in hospital for a spinal fusion surgery, which connects two or more bones to help relieve severe back pain. 

But unbeknownst to her, the hospital she was treated in was battling an infestation of  methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)—a highly contagious bacterial infection, usually caught in hospitals, that can cause life-threatening problems if it enters the skin.

If left untreated it can spread deeper in the body and lead to tissue damage which causes it to die, known medically as necrosis. 

This tissue death can also be triggered as the infection limits blood supply to the limbs, when it is referred to as gangrene.

Ms Johnson explained how, after she was discharged from the hospital, she fell unconscious within a couple of days due to the infection.

A week later she woke up in the intensive care unit, and was horrified to see her foot bleeding uncontrollably. 

A horrified woman developed gangrene (pictured) in her foot and was forced to have it amputated after contracting a deadly bacterial infection in hospital. Above, before part of her foot was

Unbeknownst to her, the hospital she was treated in was battling an infestation of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)—a highly contagious bacterial infection

She claimed that the nurse on-call ignored her pleas for help—until the injury eventually progressed to necrosis. Above, her foot pictured after the amputation

She claimed that the nurse on-call ignored her pleas for help—until the injury eventually progressed to necrosis.

She said in the post: ‘I fell asleep at home two days before Christmas and woke up after new years in the ICU…with this. It happened just as I woke up.

‘I told the nurse my foot was bleeding but she evidently didn’t believe me and it started to blister and swell up and turn purple. Then it progressed to what you see in the picture.’

She added that she is learning to adjust to the amputation, which she was forced to have when doctors identified gangrene.

‘I am walking now. My balance is not so great but I am happy to be up and around.’ 

In England, MRSA is extremely rare, with only one person in every 100,000 contracting the bacteria during the April 2022 to March 2023 period.

Symptoms include boils, abscesses, or wound infections that may leak pus. It can enter the bloodstream, leading to blood poisoning, known as sepsis, a life-threatening condition. 

It occurs when the body’s inflammatory response to an infection damages its own tissues and organs, which can lead to organ failure or even death.

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Woman shares horrifying before and after images of foot amputation after mistake caused gangrene

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