Florida Mom Battles Flesh-Eating Bacteria After Beach Swim

A Florida mom nearly lost her life and leg to a severe flesh-eating bacterial infection after taking a swim at a local beach,according to a report.

Genevieve Gallagher, 49, remains hospitalized after contracting the “Vibrio vulnificus” bacteria while swimming with her 7-year-old daughter, mila, in Santa Rosa Sound off Pensacola Beach in late july, the Pensacola News Journal reported.

three days after the swim, while at work, Gallagher began to show concerning symptoms, including sweating, feeling unwell, and experiencing swelling and blisters on her leg, she recalled to the local publication.

She was rushed into emergency surgery later that afternoon, the outlet reported.

“I thought I had an infection, but never did I think I had a flesh-eating bacterium,” Gallagher told the Journal.

“There’s no antibiotics that they can give you to stop it. They just have to remove any infected skin and tissue. They’ve got to get it off your body.”

The diagnosis led doctors to begin a grueling process of removing most of the tissue on her left leg below her knee to prevent the flesh-eating bacteria from spreading, she said.

“They debrided my leg down to the bare meat,” Gallagher said from her hospital bed.

“they took most of the muscle, almost down to the bone, basically. It went up almost to my knee, so it’s a pretty large amount, and it’s all the way around my leg.”