‘I’m a necrotizing fasciitis survivor’: Model Jennifer Barlow loses right leg to ‘flesh-eating’ bacteria infection in Bahamas

The life of American model Jennifer Barlow (33) suddenly changed in a few days after returning from a trip to the Bahamas.

“When I woke up I had what looked like a zombie’s leg. It seemed as if she had been possessed by a dog. I have nothing left. The doctors told me that I was very lucky to be alive,” Barlow told various media, referring to Antena 3.

After undergoing 30 surgeries, reports Univisión, the model is adjusting to her new life again.

what happened to the model

A woman lost her right leg due to an infection caused by carnivorous (flesh-eating) bacteria.

While on a beach in the Bahamas, Barlow shaved his legs and injured one of them.

When he entered the sea, adds Antena 3, “he felt tingling in his knee”.

The holidays ended, and upon returning home, the complaints began to the extent that they ended in fainting.

He said that when he arrived at his home in Atlanta, his knee was already swollen, “very red and hot.” – I could barely walk.

Painkillers did not relieve the pain and one day her brother found her passed out in the kitchen.

My little brother saved my life when I was dying on the kitchen floor.

Jennifer Barlow

Bacteria eat flesh

His life was in great danger in the hospital. She was diagnosed as a carrier of the bacteria that causes septic shock and kidney failure, Univisión explained.

The infection is believed to have come from a small wound on his leg that was exposed to ocean water during his trip to the Bahamas, relatives said in a GoFundMe account they set up.

According to the American chain, “Jennifer spent several months in the hospital, and in order to save her life, the option was to amputate her right leg.

Vibrio vulnificus, a “carnivorous” bacteria whose cases spiked in Florida after Hurricane Ian

That flesh-eating bacteria in scientific terms is Vibrio vulnificus, which El Universo reported in October 2022 that “the population of Lee County, Florida, which was devastated by Hurricane Ian, is suffering from an increase in cases of illness and death due to the flesh-eating bacteria.”

It added that “people can become infected with Vibrio vulnificus after the bacteria enters the body through open wounds or cuts.

The bacterium lives in salty and warm waters, such as those that remain stagnant after floods.

Now with the case of the model, on Antena 3 they reveal that she eats meat “lives in sea water and has the ability to enter the human body when the wound comes into contact with water containing large amounts of bacteria or eats contaminated shellfish.

Vibrio vulnificus “causes necrotizing fasciitis,” a rare bacterial infection that spreads rapidly throughout the body and can cause death, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains.

Necrotizing fasciitis destroys tissue under the skin and is caused by group A streptococcus, El País reported.

Jennifer was in a coma for 10 days and had 12 surgeries to remove dead tissue, the same newspaper said.

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surviving necrotizing fasciitis

On her Instagram profile, the model describes herself as: “survivor of necrotizing fasciitis.”

The family started a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the treatments and because they are already thinking about prosthetics for Jennifer, Spanish media point out.

Quoted again on Antena 3, she said: “There is beauty and honesty in everything. My disability has made me a stronger person now.”

Last May, Jennifer took to her networks to reveal the emergency that was presented to her and said that her silence for the past five months was due to the fact that she was focused on survival.

“With your donation to my GoFundMe, I’m one ‘step’ closer to rebuilding my life,” she said hopefully.

I survived by finding the magic in total surrender to God.

Jennifer Barlow, model

In mid-August, he reappeared in a video with this message: “I’m starting to get better! Thank God and all of you in my support system. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!” (AND)

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