Mother, 51, left with organ failure after catching flesh-eating bug

Mother, 51, reveals how she was left with multiple organ failure and put into a coma after catching a flesh-eating bug when she scraped her knee while jogging

• WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
• Lou Trott, 51, from Wiltshire tripped and cut her knee while jogging on holiday 
• Later went for a swim in the sea where flesh-eating bacteria entered her system 
• Developed sepsis and organ failure and was put into medically induced coma
• Doctors had to operate on Lou’s leg multiple times to remove harmful bacteria

A mother-of-two has revealed how she was left with multiple organ failure after catching a flesh-eating bug through a small cut on her knee. 

Loubna Trott, 51, from Westbury, Wiltshire, tripped and grazed her leg while out running during a holiday in Mallorca in summer 2019. 

She later went for a swim in the sea, where a rare but extremely vicious bacterial infection called necrotising fasciitis managed to enter her system. 

Following her return to England, Lou began to feel unsteady on her legs and was quickly rushed to hospital where she was diagnosed with sepsis.  

The mum suffered multiple organ failure and had to be put in a medically-induced coma for seven days while doctors performed multiple operations to remove any harmful bacteria.  

Loubna Trott, 51, from Westbury, Wiltshire,suffered multiple organ failure and had to be put in a medically induced coma for seven days as a result of flesh-eating bacteria she picked up through a small cut on her knee

The keen runner tripped and grazed her leg while out running during a holiday in Mallorca in summer 2019. She first realised something was wrong a few days after arriving back in the UK, noticing a cold temperature, blurred vision and fatigue.

Recalling how she felt in hospital before going into a coma, Lou said: ‘It’s been horrific – I couldn’t believe it was me there lying down, dying.’ 

‘The consultant said 70 per cent of patients who had what I had die. The skin graft felt like a swarm of bees or wasps landed on my leg and all stung me at the same time.

‘No matter what pain killers they gave me – I could still feel the pain. There’s a lot to live for – I didn’t want my children to be without a mum.’

Keen runner Lou spent every morning of her holiday going for a jog and one day towards the end of the holiday tripped and grazed her knee.  

Doctors performed multiple operations to remove any harmful bacteria and Lou had to undergo a skin graft removing a ‘great big rectangle’ of skin off of her outer left thigh’

Keen runner Lou spent every morning of her holiday going for a jog and one day towards the end of the holiday tripped and grazed her knee

The mother, who has five-year-old twin daughters Alayna and Maysa says the cut was tiny initially – ‘like a little kid’s graze’ – and so she simply brushed it off and kept running.  

‘There were quite a lot of people out that morning so I just carried on running, trying to pretend I was alright’, said Lou.  

Lou first realised something was wrong a few days after arriving in the UK, noticing a cold temperature, blurred vision and fatigue. 

‘I forgot about it for a few days but when we flew home there was a heatwave in the UK and I remember being really, really cold. Like I was shivering even though it was really hot outside.

‘I had blurred vision and I was tired all the time. The next thing I remember was throwing up and collapsing in the bathroom. My husband called an ambulance, but the paramedics said I had just caught a tummy bug on holiday.

The mother, who has five-year-old twin daughters Alayna and Maysa (pictured on the holiday with their mum) says the cut was tiny initially – ‘like a little kid’s graze’ – and so she simply brushed it off and kept running 

Lou first realised something was wrong a few days after arriving in the UK, noticing a cold temperature, blurred vision and fatigue. She is pictured with her twins in Mallorca

Back in England, Lou was sent to A&E where she went into septic shock and was put into a medically induced coma in the hospitals intensive care unit

Her condition deteriorated so quickly that she called the GP, certain she was dying. Doctors soon released the severity of Lou’s health and called for an ambulance to the of Royal United Hospital in Bath.

Lou was sent to A&E where she went into septic shock and was put into a medically induced coma in the hospitals intensive care unit.  

Although her memories are still fuzzy, Lou said she remembered hearing people crying while she waited to be seen by a doctor. 

She said: ‘The experience in ICU, although the nursed and doctors were amazing, the experience was really really traumatic.

NECROTISING FASCIITIS: THE VICIOUS FLESH-EATING BACTERIA 

Necrotising fasciitis, more commonly known as ‘flesh-eating disease’, is a rare but extremely vicious bacterial infection. ‘Necrotising’ refers to something that causes body tissue to die, and the infection can destroy skin, muscles and fat.

The disease develops when the bacteria enters the body, often through a minor cut or scrape. As the bacteria multiply, they release toxins that kill tissue and cut off blood flow to the area.

Because it is so virulent, the bacteria spreads rapidly throughout the body.

Symptoms include small, red lumps or bumps on the skin, rapidly-spreading bruising, sweating, chills, fever and nausea. Organ failure and shock are also common complications.

Sufferers must be treated immediately to prevent death, and are usually given powerful antibiotics and surgery to remove dead tissue. Amputation can become necessary if the disease spreads through an arm or leg.

Patients may undergo skin grafts after the infection has cleared up, to help the healing process or for aesthetic reasons.

There are 500 to 1,500 cases reported a year, but 20 to 25 percent of victims die.

‘I could hear nurses talking to my family – hearing them talking about amputation. I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t.’

‘I was lying there and all I could hear was a lady crying next to me – saying to her husband ‘I wasn’t ready for you to go.’

‘I thought I was going to the ‘death section’ too – I was so frightened.’   

Lou went into an induced coma on July 19 and pulled through, coming out of her coma a week later. She said the doctors told her that it was only because she was in such good shape that she survived. 

When Lou woke up, she saw her family gathered around her but she still didn’t know whether she was dead or alive. 

The mum underwent her first operation at Bath RHU while she was in an induced coma. Once doctors were completely happy the bug had been removed Lou was transferred to Southmead to have a skin graft.

Doctors took a ‘great big rectangle’ of skin off of her outer left thigh and placed it onto her inner left thigh.  

Lou is now due to have a couple more operations six months apart – to tighten up the skin on her left leg and make the leg more ‘aesthetically pleasing.’

The mum began rehabilitation immediately after leaving Southmead and it took Lou roughly two months to begin walking properly after numerous visits to the physiotherapist.  

Now, the mum-of-two has started running again to help her get over her PTSD and has already completed several challenges for charity, including a half-marathon.

‘I saw this challenge for a running for prostate cancer,’ she added.

‘My dad died four years ago from prostate cancer so this was close to my heart.

‘When I saw that I thought – god saved my life, I want to give something back to help other charities and hopefully they’ll never be in the same situation my dad was in.

‘My fitness saved me. That’s why I always think I’ve got to stay fit. I used to cry when I was running because I couldn’t believe I was doing it.’

She had to learn to walk again – a process that took several months – and is due to undergo further operations in the future to tighten up skin on her leg. 

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