7-year-old Arizona girl undergoes several amputations after mysteriously catching rare bacterial disease
A young Arizona girl has had several limbs amputated over the last two weeks after she mysteriously contracted a deadly bacterial infection, according to her distraught family.
Second-grader Victoria Pasten-Morales has reportedly undergone eight surgeries since she was diagnosed with group A Streptococcus, a bacteria that can lead to deadly diseases.
The 7-year-old started her illness with a fever and vomiting at the end of February before her lips and hands became blue, one of her parents told a local outlet.
“Everything happened very fast. It occurred very fast. We don’t know where it came from, but it all happened in less than 12 hours,” mother Obdulia Morales told Fox 10 in Phoenix.
“Diseases come unexpectedly,” Victor Pasten added in Spanish. “From morning to night, everything can change in just one second.”
The child was taken to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where she received the grim diagnosis and underwent numerous procedures.
“Unfortunately, they had to amputate both feet and her right hand. Her left hand is still recovering,” Pasten told the station Sunday.
Victoria’s kidneys have also been affected and while she is awake, she needs a ventilator, according to Fox 10.
While she can’t talk, the girl was blowing kisses and nodding her head when staff from the school she attends visited Victoria to wish her well, her teacher said in a GoFundMe post reported on by Fox 10.
More than $23,000 has been raised for the family so far as they face a financial burden from the shocking medical emergency.
Group A Streptococcus can lead to different infections, from mild illnesses to more severe diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Morales said her daughter has been a “warrior” through the scary ordeal.
“It’s not going to be easy for her,” she told Fox 10. “It’s going to be hard, but she’s strong.”
Her parents, who have three other children, can’t explain how she caught the debilitating infection.
“Not even the doctors can tell us how she got this bacteria,” Morales said.
