A mother-of-four had three limbs amputated after she developed the ‘silent killer’ disease sepsis following the birth of her twins.
Khedidja Teape, 29, from south-east London, was left with a blackened nose, hands, legs and fingers that needed to be removed after the life-threatening ordeal.
Ms Teape, also known as Deesh or Deesha, gave birth to twins Zakari and Zalaysia on April 12, 2023.
But little did she know that this joyous moment would quickly turn into a life-altering journey.
Shortly after arriving home with her newborns, she began to suffer stomach pains, but claims her concerns were dismissed by medics.
After five days, the agony had become so intense she was forced to make a desperate call for an ambulance.
‘I was experiencing stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhoea, shivering and not being able to eat, just generally not feeling myself. So by day five it was like “I can’t do this anymore, I need some sort of medical attention”,’ she told the BBC.
Her symptoms were caused by a strep A infection. This is a type of bacteria that can cause a range of illnesses including strep throat, scarlet fever, and necrotising fasciitis (also known as flesh-eating disease).
Khedidja Teape, 29, from south-east London , was left with blackened hands, legs, fingers and nose that needed to be removed after the life-threatening ordeal
She gave birth to twins on April 12, 2023. But little did she know that this joyous moment would quickly turn into a life-altering journey
In some cases, strep A also lead to sepsis, a potentially fatal response to an infection which affects 245,000 people in the UK every year.
This violent reaction can lead to the immune system injuring the body’s own tissue, which can lead to life threatening organ failure.
At least 48,000 die from a sepsis-related illness annually, according to The UK Sepsis trust.
In Ms Teape’s case, she was put into an induced coma for a week in order to hook her up to machines that could perform the job of her failing organs.
But when she woke up she found her had limbs had turned black.
Recalling her last memories in ICU before she went under she said : ‘I was told needed a procedure done ASAP.’
‘My heart rate was high and blood pressure was very low. I waved my family goodbye and went off to theatre, the last words I remember saying to myself was “I got this”,’ She wrote on her Gofundme page.
When she woke up again she assumed she had just had the procedure, but, in fact, she had been in another coma for a week.
She wrote: ‘My partner then began telling me how happy he was I was awake and that I had been sleeping for a whole week in an induced coma, him and my family were told to prepare for the worst.
‘I thought it was a joke he was running and then family and friends started turning up in tears, saying “don’t do that again, we thought were going to lose you”.’
Her symptoms were caused by an infection called Strep A which led to sepsis. She was put into an induced coma for a week, when she woke up her limbs had turned black (pictured)
The mum has now received fitted prosthetics, and is now able to walk independently, as she looks after babies Zakari and Zalaysia
‘The sepsis had turned my body black. In the space of a week, all my limbs were dead,’ Ms Teape said speaking to the BBC.
‘My hands and feet were underneath the blanket and when Shawn (her partner) moved the blanket I saw my hands literally curved up like a claw, but like frozen. And then my legs, until my knees, were like flaking with like black scarring.’
The sepsis left lasting damage and five months later in August 2023 she had both her legs, left hand the fingers of her right hand amputated.
Her partner Shawn Ayton said it is a ‘living nightmare’, but he is grateful she is alive.
‘There’s always a silver lining in every situation. Like, she’s here. She gets to be a mother at the end of the day so that’s the main thing,’ he said.
Ms Teape admitted that adapting to her new reality has been ‘physically, emotionally and mentally demanding’.
Speaking to The Sun, she told how she has now received fitted prosthetics, and is now able to walk independently, as she looks after babies Zakari and Zalaysia.
‘Now, I can carry my twins in the crook of my right arm, and lift them up too,’ she told the newspaper. ‘My family are happy to have me home.’
‘My life may have been flipped upside down, but at least my babies, and my older kids, still have their mum.’
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
