Mother-of-four bitten by the family dog has to have both her hands amputated after she developed sepsis and was put in a coma
- Michelle Ellis, 41, was admitted to hospital after the small wound became septic
- Ms Ellis was put in an induced coma at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth
- Family are fundraising in bid to pay for prosthetics when she leaves hospital
Michelle Ellis was hospitalised after the family dog bit her while trying to cage him. It is not clear if the dog pictured is the animal which caused the injury.
A woman has had to have her hands amputated after a small bite from the family dog left her in a coma.
Michelle Ellis, 41, was rushed to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth several days after the attack and put in an induced coma after the small wound developed into sepsis.
The mother-of-four was placed on a dialysis machine and underwent surgery including a tracheotomy. She has since woken from her coma.
Her daughter Keana, 24, told Plymouth Live that her mother had not been worried about the bite because it was so small.
‘She tried to put him in his cage and he bit her, but it was a tiny bite – around the size of a cigarette burn – so nothing was thought of it and she left it, and then this happened,’ she said.
Her family has launched a fundraising campaign which they hope will go towards her rehabilitation when she leaves hospital.
‘The fundraiser is to help pay for her rehabilitation and any costs that will come long with that – but also just for her to be able to have a little treat when she starts getting better,’ Keana added
The GoFundMe page, launched by Ms Ellis’s sister, Melanie, says that the incident happened on January 16, and that Ms Ellis was admitted to hospital after ‘suffering flu like symptoms for a few days’ with ‘multiple organ failure’.
The information adds that her ‘lips and nose were as black as her hands’ when she was admitted to hospital.
Ms Ellis owns two dogs, according to her posts on social media. It is unknown which dog caused the bite which hospitalised her.
After two weeks in a coma, Ms Ellis has woken up but the GoFundMe page explains that some family members are unable to visit her due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘This is so frustrating and upsetting as we are not able to be by her side to comfort her and not able to communicate with her via telephone’, Melanie Ellis writes.
Keana also told Plymouth Live, ‘We’re not allowed to go and visit her at the moment, which is making it a lot harder. The hardest thing is that we weren’t expecting this at all.
Ms Ellis’s family hope to raise funds that will go towards her rehabilitation
‘My mind now is set on raising as much money as we can with the fundraiser and raising awareness, so that she has a good quality of life when she does get better.’
The fundraising page adds that it will cost £32,000 per hand for treatment and prosthetics. At the time of writing £2,120 had been raised.