A family visiting Chicago is now fighting to get a mother home to Mexico after a bacterial infection took both of her hands and both of her feet. Elorida Hermeneglido contracted a Klebsiella infection during the trip, and what began as an illness spiraled into a medical crisis that cost her all four limbs.
According to NBC 5 Chicago, Klebsiella is a type of bacteria normally found in human stool, but it can cause pneumonia, bloodstream infections, wound or surgical site infections, and meningitis when it spreads elsewhere in the body, per guidance cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hermeneglido said her hands and feet turned black because blood was no longer circulating properly, and she told the station the pain in her extremities became unbearable before doctors moved forward with amputation. Her husband ultimately gave permission for surgeons to amputate his wife's hands and feet.
Reduced oxygen delivery can affect the extremities. A 2024 report in PubMed Central notes that septic shock can involve disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and discusses high-dose vasopressor therapy. Although vasopressors have been implicated in sustained vasoconstriction, the review says recent evidence suggests they may not be the underlying cause of ischemia; DIC or shock liver may explain it.
A Rare Sepsis Complication
Symmetrical peripheral gangrene is a rare condition associated with systemic diseases such as sepsis. The CDC reports that sepsis causes at least 1.7 million adult hospitalizations and 350,000 deaths annually in the United States, and Sepsis Alliance data from 2019 found that roughly 10 percent of the country's more than 1.6 million annual limb amputations stem directly from sepsis-related complications. A 2023 patient safety study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that about two out of every 1,000 patients on vasopressor therapy for sepsis ultimately require amputation due to severe tissue damage from restricted blood flow.
The stakes of leaving that tissue damage unaddressed are severe. The same PubMed Central clinical review found that mortality rates for patients who develop symmetrical peripheral gangrene during septic shock have historically ranged between 40 percent and 90 percent, underscoring why amputation can become a life-saving necessity rather than a last resort.
Family Turns to Online Fundraising for Prosthetics
Her family's fundraiser aims to raise enough for prosthetics so she can return home to Mexico, as reported by NBC 5 Chicago. The financial road ahead is steep: an industry breakdown from Pro Medical East estimated that individual prosthetic limbs can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 or more, typically need replacement every three to five years, and can push lifetime healthcare costs for amputees past $500,000.
The fundraiser is intended to help pay for prosthetics and get Hermeneglido home.
