A mother and a former marine is fighting for her life, and she needs a lot of help.
Cindy Martinez, 34, is in a Georgia hospital, struggling to keep her limbs intact and her spirits high despite the ravages on her body caused by flesh-eating bacteria.
Cindy is a young mother of 2 and a former marine. She's living with her small family in in Georgia. On May 25, she experienced a sharp pain on her shoulders, which worsened in just a short amount of time that she had to be brought to the emergency room of Gwinett Medical Center.
Fortunately, it was immediately diagnosed as necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria. With this disease, the bacteria can enter into the fascia or a band of muscles with blood vessels and fat. The bacteria can destroy them, leaving the tissue necrotic or dead. When the tissue is dead, it means that the blood supply in the site has already been cut off.
The body then tries to fight off the dead tissue and bacteria, which can then lead to serious complications such as organ failure and septic shock.
Cindy has already been taken from the ventilator, which means that her condition has somewhat improved. However, she's not yet in the clear. Although the doctors have already performed debridement to remove the buildup of dead skin tissues, these may not be enough in the long term. Cindy may eventually lose the arms and legs.
What's making the treatment quite difficult is the fact that doctors haven't figured out how she obtained the bacteria. Many strains can actually cause necrotizing fasciitis, although the most popular is strep. They can enter the body through an open wound or a surgical site, and once they are already inside, they can spread in a short amount of time. In the United States, at least 600 people are diagnosed with this disease, and more than 20% will die.
To help them with the costs of hospitalization and after care, the family has created a GoFundMe page.