A grandmother of thirteen was forced to have both her legs amputated after she was bit by a mosquito in her garden.
Josie Rowley, 69, was in her garden tending to her plants in September last year when she says the insect bit her on her left leg.
Rowley, from Bantry Bay, Cork, Ireland, noticed two red marks on her leg when getting ready for bed but didn’t think much about the ‘mosquito bite’-sized punctures. But days later the bite marks turned into ‘gruesome’ ulcers.
After two drug takes of antibiotics that were unsuccessful, she was referred to the hospital where she was given compression bands and tried three rounds of leech therapy to tackle the infection.
The compression wraps slowed down her circulation so much that her toes turned black, forcing doctors to amputate both legs above the knee.
Ms Rowley was left devastated by the incident and was shocked something as small as an insect bite had caused this much damage.
‘I’m not too sure what bit me because it was only when I was getting ready for bed that I noticed two little round red marks on my lower left leg,’ she said.
‘I just thought maybe an ant had crawled up my jeans or some creature.
‘The next day they had got a lot bigger and over days they became sore and then turned into these gruesome ulcers and that is when I had the compression bandages put on.
‘The bites at first were not even a millimetre, they were like a little mosquito bite.’
However, after a nurse put compression bandages on her, circulation was not sufficient enough to heal the wounds and her toes started to go black.
‘Their [the hospital] resolution was to amputate above the knee and this is what happened in the end,’ Ms Rowley said.
‘We did try other alternatives [before then] and even tried leech therapy, which wasn’t the most pleasant.
‘I was devastated because surely this hasn’t all come about from a couple of insect bites? It was crazy, I’ve been gardening for years and years.
‘I did have an underlying health condition of arthritis which didn’t help either in my hands and ankles.
‘When I lost my first leg I was so calm when I came out of the theatre but 10 days later they removed the other leg.
‘With one amputation you can still manoeuvre a little bit but when they took off the other leg that was a different story.
‘It does seem incredible [that an insect bite caused this]. I have been bitten so many times over the years and lived in foreign countries where the insects there are worse.
‘You just don’t think this is going to happen in your own garden.
‘I’ve just had to adjust. There are so many things now that I think I can just do but I can’t now.’
Following her discharge, she is now living at her 41-year-old daughter Jen Rowley’s house as she can’t move home until alterations are made to her property.
Ms Rowley said: ‘A wheelchair-accessible vehicle will help me tremendously.
‘At the moment if I have any appointments it’s about a 15 to 20-minute journey to the bus stop.
‘I am fortunate to have an electric wheelchair and I have taken the bus a couple of times.
‘It’s not too bad but obviously having a car I can put my wheelchair in would make my life so much easier to do errands and see my family and new granddaughter.
‘I’m getting there now though and adjusting to the situation but at the moment I can’t get home because the council house I’m renting will need a lot of alterations, so I’m living with my daughter at the moment.
‘Jen kindly cleared out her sitting room so we can fit the hospital bed in.’
By Linda Ikeji
