- Mother cheats death six times after she became ill with influenza B last year
- The mother of six has been on life support since August in a Victorian Hospital
- Doctors saved her hands from amputation but could not do the same for her feet
A Victorian mother has cheated death six times after she became ill with the flu and is still recovering after months on life support.
Julie Pinkerton has been on life support since last year when she developed a cold just after her 60th birthday.
The mother of seven is still in Geelong Hospital south of Melbourne fighting the life-threatening influenza B.
Julie Pinkerton, 60, cheated death six times after she became ill with influenza B last year
She was rushed to hospital with double pneumonia, a staph infection in her lungs and blood poisoning in August last year.
Doctors told her family the chance of survival were grim.
‘Up to six times we were asked to turn off her life support,’ her daughter Natalie Andrews told Seven News.
She was happy and active (right) until August when doctors told her family the chance of survival were near non-existent
After months of fighting various infections and surgeries doctors were able to save her hands from amputation but could not do the same for her feet.
‘My life’s changed completely from being an independent physical person to this, which could have been avoided from one immunisation shot,’ Julie Pinkerton said.
Julie’s family have started a a gofundme to help fully equip her house so she can move around easier.
Doctors were able to save her hands from amputation but could not do the same for her feet
She said: ‘I’m now minus a working, body minus two feet, no longer have a job.’
‘I would hate my worst enemy to go through this,’ she said.
More than 233,000 Australians became ill with the flu last year and 1,100 people were killed.