A mother lost her hands, feet, nose, lips and tip of her tongue to sepsis after she was bitten between her thumb and index finger by a mongoose.
Shaninlea Visser, 36, from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, cleaned the wound after she was attacked at her former boss’s home and thought nothing of it.
The mother, who has a 13-year-old daughter, collapsed two days after feeling like her hands and feet were on fire, and was rushed to hospital.
Doctors put her into an 11-day coma as they fought to save her life and carried out the amputations.
The mother has now had to learn to walk again and been through 66 reconstructive operations. She is scheduled for a further jaw operation in April.
Shaninlea Visser, 36, from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, collapsed two days after she was bitten by the mongoose at her former boss’s home.
The mother, who has a 13-year-old daughter, was placed into a coma for 11-days as doctors fought to save her life. She is pictured after coming round in hospital
The mother’s hand after she was bitten, left, with a yellow ring showing where she was bitten, and the mother before she was bitten, right
‘The doctor did blood tests but they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what caused the sepsis,’ she said, ‘but being bitten by the mongoose two days before is most likely to be the cause’.
‘I never expected what was about to happen – I was feeling nauseous, had an upset stomach but then I fainted a few times.
‘My colleagues found me and my ex boss rushed me to hospital as I was in excruciating pain with my hands and feet and it felt as if they were on fire.
‘I was put in a coma for 11 days while my kidneys, liver and other vital organs were failing.
‘A few days later my family was called in and were told if I don’t respond to the antibiotics there wasn’t much more they could do for me.
‘When my body started responding to the antibiotics they started bringing me out of the coma.
‘They tried to keep my hands covered so I wouldn’t see that they’d gone black but when I was strong enough they told me what happened.
The mother pictured in hospital receiving oxygen. Her limbs were amputated while she was in a coma
The mother’s toes pictured in hospital after she was bitten by a mongoose
Ms Visser after recovering from the mongoose bite in hospital (left) and the mother while she was in an induced coma (right)
‘I told them ‘you’ve got to do what you have to do’- I needed to fight for Kiara, I had to show her, when something happens to you either good or bad, you can’t give up, you have to carry on.
‘I was in shock when I realised the extent of my amputations but I had to be strong for my daughter- there was nothing that I could have said to them because they did what they had to do what they did to save me.’
Shan was bitten by the mongoose three years ago and was placed into the induced coma on 19 January 2017 after she was diagnosed with sepsis and Disseminated intravascular coagulation.
Doctors amputated both legs below the knee on February 6, both arms below the elbow on February 8 and her nose and lips were removed on February 17.
She also lost the top part of her jaw and eight top teeth with one bottom tooth in January 2019 as a plastic surgeon worked to rebuild her nose and lips.
The mother pictured smiling with a sign following her treatment for sepsis. She has since been through 66 reconstructive operations
The mother pictured with her daughter Kiara before she was diagnosed with sepsis
The mother pictured with her daughter Kiara before she fell ill with sepsis
Shan said: ‘To date I’ve had 66 operations and my nose has been reconstructed from a skin graft from my thigh and rib bone.
‘This was first constructed on my forehead until there was enough blood supply to ‘swing’ it round and place it where her nose should be.
‘My lips have also been reconstructed from my thigh, this was done by placing a tissue expander under the skin and over a few weeks I had to have saline injected into this bag to stretch the skin.’
Once Shan had 300ml of saline in the bag, her skin had stretched enough for the plastic surgeon to use the extra skin to reconstruct her lips.
This was her longest operation which took 13 hours, while her next one will be in April.
She was bitten by a mongoose. Meerkats (pictured) are members of the mongoose family
Shan says she is grateful for all the support she has received and added: ‘I believe there is a reason why I’m still here and that’s to tell my story and motivate people to realise if they wake up one day and they’re feeling low, it’s just that day, the next day is a brand new day, full of opportunities.
‘If I hadn’t been strong I don’t think I would be here today, as soon as you get a bit of negativity in your mind, you get depressed and everything goes downhill from there.
‘I want people to be aware of what sepsis can cause- life is too short, take the bull by the horns and go for it.’