Story By: Eman El-Sherbiny, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
These pictures show a woman who went to the dentist with a toothache and was told her face was being gobbled up by a flesh-eating bug.
Mother of three Madelein Carelse, 42, was given the shocking news when she went to visit the dentist in the city of Vereeniging in South Africa’s north-eastern Gauteng province.
She said the pain had started some days earlier which had prompted an initial visit to a different dentist in her home city of Vanderbijlpark, which is also in Gauteng province, who had given her antibiotics.
Pictures Credit: CEN / We Care
But a few days later the pain worsened and she was struggling to breathe, with the area under her jaw starting to go black. Her husband took her to another dentist, this time in Vereeniging, who told her: “Something is seriously wrong”.
He then announced that she had fallen victim to necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating bug that literally eats away at the soft tissue of the body and spreads rapidly. It is extremely rare and occurs in only one in a thousand cases in western Europe.
To save her life, doctors at Sebokeng Hospital in Vanderbijlpark had to cut away all of the infected tissue in order to stop it from infecting her vital organs, and she now needs plastic surgery in order to rebuild her face and neck.
But the woman has no health insurance, and so her friend Annemarie van Antwerpen has started a fundraising campaign.
Speaking to local media she said: “She is very sore.”
And she added: “We would like to move her to a private hospital, as we are concerned that the wound appears to be turning septic. We would also like Carelse to undergo reconstructive surgery, which will require a plastic surgeon.”
She is now due to have surgery on Monday, and a funding campaign on Facebook, called We Care For You Medelein Club (sic), has also been established by friends to help with the costs.
Supporters include the Mrs Africa Classic, Erika Breytenbach, who has already visited the 42-year-old mother of three in hospital and urged people to contribute to the fundraising campaign.
Donations can be made by visiting the We Care For You Madelein Club Facebook page.
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