Cassandra Marshall, 35, thought she had a bad flu around New Year’s. Days later, she woke up in a North Carolina hospital and learned all four of her limbs had been amputated.
Marshall, a mother of four, became ill at the end of 2023. What felt like a flu quickly turned into septic shock, a life-threatening condition that can happen when the body’s response to infection causes dangerously low blood pressure and organ failure.
Her husband called 911 after she woke up unable to breathe. She was airlifted to hospital, resuscitated twice, and placed on life support. Marshall later told local Fox affiliate WGHP that doctors said the crisis was linked to strep and the flu.
Doctors put her on an ECMO machine to support her heart and lungs. It helped her breathing recover. But she lost blood flow to her arms and legs. As a result, doctors carried out a quadruple amputation to save her life.
Marshall previously told WGHP that her legs were amputated first. She then suffered another serious medical emergency. A few days later, once she was stable, surgeons removed both of her lower arms. She said losing her arms was hardest because she could no longer hold her children.
Two years on, Marshall is adapting with one prosthetic arm. She said she no longer qualifies for Medicaid and has been denied disability four times. Friends have launched a GoFundMe to help her buy another prosthetic. She said each robotic limb costs about $19,000.
