Fort Mitchell woman attacked by flesh-eating bacteria back home after 45 days in hospital

A 24-year-old Fort Mitchell, Ala., woman who had been hospitalized at Columbus Regional for a flesh-eating bacteria infection returned home Monday after 45 days in the hospital.

Rachelle Woods said her daughter, LaKalia, is doing much better after her life-threatening bout with necrotizing fasciitis.

“Her first night went well, praise God!,” Woods wrote in a text to the Ledger-Enquirer. “We are happy she’s home and understand that the recovery will take time. However, as I’ve said before we are in it to win it!”

LaKalia Woods was hospitalized Sept. 30, after a boil on her buttocks turned into the disease, her mother said in a previous interview.

What the family originally thought was a pimple, just kept getting bigger, raising concern. While in the hospital, LaKalia had 11 surgeries to remove infectious areas. She was an employee at the Verizon call center in Opelika when the disease struck.

Woods said her daughter will need home care assistance twice a week and a bi-weekly appointment at the Columbus Wound Clinic now that she has been released from the hospital.

She said the family feels indebted to healthcare professionals at Columbus Regional for saving LaKalia’s life. The list includes physicians, nurses, technicians and specialists.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines necrotizing fasciitis, pronounced (neck-ro-tie-zing Fas-e-i-tis), as “a serious bacterial skin infection that spreads quickly and kills the body’s soft tissue.”

The flesh-eating bacteria is the same disease that attacked Aimee Copeland, an Atlanta young woman who lost a leg and her two hands to the disease in 2012.

Copeland was the keynote speaker at a recent United Way Power of the Purse luncheon at the St. Luke Ministry Center, where she met LaKalia’s parents and older sister.

“Unfortunately, necrotizing fasciitis can be deadly in a very short amount of time,” according to information on the CDC website. “Accurate diagnosis, prompt antibiotic treatment (medicine that kills bacteria in the body), and surgery are important to stopping this infection.”

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 9:41 AM with the headline "Fort Mitchell woman attacked by flesh-eating bacteria back home after 45 days in hospital."