As of: March 6, 2024, 7:26 p.m
By: Florian Neuroth
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After suffering from blood poisoning, a teacher in the USA had to have her lower legs and forearms amputated.
The symptoms initially hardly differed from a cold.
Houston/Texas – It started with flu symptoms on a school trip and ended with amputations.
This drama about a high school teacher from the US state of Texas is affecting.
After what appeared to be a cold, Sherri Moody lost large parts of her arms and legs.
In fact, the 51-year-old had become infected with streptococci and developed blood poisoning.
During the coma in the hospital, the extremities rotted away - the doctors had to amputate them.
Giving up is out of the question for the teacher.
“I just choose to be happy,” she tells
Today
.
The tragic story of the American woman is retold there.
On a school trip to a theme park in April 2023, Moody began to feel unwell.
The flu-like symptoms got worse.
High fever, vomiting and breathing problems – the teacher had to go to the emergency room.
For the first time in her life, as she tells the US broadcaster.
“I was very healthy and in shape.
I ate right, exercised.”
After suffering blood poisoning, Sherri Moody had large parts of both her arms and legs amputated, but she remains positive and always smiles at the camera in photos.
Husband David is a great support for the US teacher.
© Facebook Account: David Moody
Blood poisoning after streptococcal infection: US teacher's hands and feet rot in coma
In the hospital the shock diagnosis was made: double pneumonia due to a streptococcal infection.
These are bacteria that can cause various illnesses.
In addition to a milder sore throat, these can include scarlet fever and skin infections as well as brain or pneumonia.
In Great Britain last autumn, 15 children died after being infected with the bacterium.
Moody developed sepsis.
This is what doctors call blood poisoning.
This can arise from a simple wound or, as in Moody's case, from an infection inside the body.
Shortly before Christmas, the well-known actor Fritz Wepper also had to go to the hospital because of blood poisoning.
The US teacher had the “most severe stage of sepsis,” as the US broadcaster writes – septic shock.
Husband David was shocked and “very scared,” the 53-year-old tells
Today.
Moody's kidneys and lungs began to fail and she had to be put into a coma.
According to the report, strong drugs pumped blood into their organs - at the expense of circulation in the extremities.
Within days, his arms and legs turned black, recalls David Moody.
“I literally saw my wife’s feet and hands die.”
After amputations on her arms and legs, the Houston teacher still doesn't have prostheses
In June 2023, the teacher's legs were amputated below the knee and in July her arms were amputated below the elbows.
According to the US broadcaster, the 51-year-old has had many follow-up operations to date and as a result has not yet had any prostheses.
Now she has to undergo a complicated operation to combat gangrene on her kneecaps.
If this fails, the legs may also have to be amputated above the knee and the prospects of prostheses decrease further.
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Sherri Moody doesn't let that get her down.
“I am mentally very strong.
“I just choose to be happy.” Every now and then she cries a little.
“But I won’t allow this to happen for long,” she says in an interview with the broadcaster.
People offer comfort to teacher after amputations in Facebook group
She and her husband can also rely on the support of their community in the metropolitan area around Houston, Texas.
A Facebook group with more than 7,500 members provides regular updates and organizes fundraising events.
Only on Sunday (March 3rd) did the group host a charity event with a tombola, DJ and cake sale.
You can see on videos how Moody copes with her life.
Users see her playing with a large plastic ball, brushing her teeth using a special device, in a wheelchair or trying to fasten a seat belt.
Even seemingly small things like this are stressful for the 51-year-old.
After the belt is closed, Moody has to blow hard.
People often give the teacher comfort and encouragement on Facebook.
“Hi Sherri.
I lost my hands and feet at age 60 due to a blocked kidney stone,” writes a woman from California.
She now walks “completely normally” and has bionic hands.
That's why she now wants to get together with Moody to show her one thing: that life can still be full even after an amputation.
(Florian Neuroth)