A young woman who was told she had less than a 1% chance of survival after catching a flesh-eating disease has spoken of her brave recovery.
Emma Doherty was rushed to hospital and placed in an induced coma in February 2021 after doctors discovered she had sepsis, a life-threatening blood infection.
Her coma lasted for 39 days, during which time she says doctors advised her mum Marie on several occasions to approve switching off her life support.
But despite being told she would be left with just one arm and no legs after later contracting the flesh-eating disease necrotizing fasciitis - which also destroyed her limbs and her stomach - Marie refused to give the medics permission.
Emma, now 37, was discharged at the height of the Covid pandemic, and opted to move from home in London to Lancashire to be closer to her family.
But in the months and years since she has suffered multiple setbacks, including having to move into a care home, where she would witness residents who had died from Covid being taken away every day.
She was later offered accommodation at a Blackpool B&B on the Promenade, but found this unsuitable as her wheelchair, which she now has to use, couldn't fit through the door.
Her mum began working 15-hour shifts at Sainsbury's to save up cash to pay for a private option for Emma - and later found a solution thank to what she describes as "an angel sent from God", who runs the Swans Rest Holiday Lodges and Cottages in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.
The new accommodation means the mother-and-daughter duo can finally live together in suitable accommodation, though they are having to find an extra £400 to pay their rent.
Pressures on the NHS over the last two years means her progress has been gradual, and she is still waiting for further treatment.
Extensive skin grafts which have left the majority of her stomach covered in skin just 2mm thick, meaning Emma is constantly scared that even the slightest cut or injury could leave her internal organs exposed.
Reflecting on her experience and her against-the-odds survival, she said: "It's been horrific and I know that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my mum,"
"They told her I had just a 0.02 per cent chance of survival when I was in the coma but she refused to let them turn off the machines keeping me alive."
In a cruel twist of events, Emma suffered a second tragedy when her mum was urgently admitted to hospital last March, also with sepsis.
This further blow to the family hit her hard, and she recalls that at one stage she decided to barricade herself into her home as she feared she would lose her mum to the very same disease that almost took her life.
Though much of Emma's body has been left with considerable scarring from skin grafts, she say the NHS deem her issue to be "cosmetic" and she is therefore not entitled to have restorative surgery.
She has also found herself waiting for "emergency surgery" to repair a hernia.
Despite friends telling her for the past two years to consider setting up a GoFundMe page, Emma says she was initially too "embarrassed" to ask for help.
But the most recent setback for the family has led to a change of heart, as she explained: "When my mum was ill I realised I had to find a way to be more independent because I know she's not going to be around forever."
Emma, who was a top cross country runner before her illness, now hopes to raise enough money through the platform to buy a lightweight wheelchair, a hoist and ramp for the car, an anti stumble electronic prosthetic leg, hydrotherapy and private physio.
This would help improve her quality of life, she says, as the NHS currently only provides her with one 30-minute session a week.
She also shares her story and progress on her TikTok page in a bid to raise awareness about necrotizing fasciitis, adding that her mum is her "rock" and has helped her through the nightmare of the last two years.
Anyone hoping to get in touch with Emma or donate to her fundraiser can visit her GoFundMe page.
