“Don’t go, my babies and I need you”; the story of the Spanish mother whose life changed when she lost her hands and feet due to a complication after the birth of her second daughter

Fever was the first symptom. Something was wrong with the health of a woman in labour. Hours of pain, discomfort and shortness of breath followed.

In Texas, Krystina Pacheco had given birth to her second daughter in October 2022, and her health, a psychologist by profession, deteriorated 48 hours later.

“I remember I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t perceive anything. Little by little I faded away and just listened to my husband tell me not to go.”

“Don’t go, my babies and I need you,” the man repeated to Krystina. Pacheco’s relatives were shocked and scared. Just two days ago, Krystina had “given birth to little Amalia via cesarean section without complications,” they told ABC News.

What did this Spanish mother present?

But what happened to this woman who gave birth to the girl Amalia? The psychologist told Good Morning America. She said the first step, right in the middle of her painting, was to take her to a health center in San Antonio as an emergency. They flew her over for this.

“I couldn’t breathe anymore, I couldn’t see anymore and little by little I was fading,” recalls the woman who lives in the city of Pleasanton, along with her husband Jacob and their other 2-year-old son.

Urgent action was taken at the nursing home. After the evaluation and initial testing, “he was diagnosed with septic shock, which is the body’s extreme response to an infection.” According to Univisión, in the case of Krystina, the bacteria found was streptococcus.

Septic shock is a severe drop in blood pressure that causes very abnormal problems in the way cells work and make energy. Progression to septic shock increases risk of death: Mayo Clinic.

Krystina, published in People in Spanish, was hooked up to a dialysis machine and another oxygenation machine.

“I want you to be here and help me with our babies.” That’s the last I remember of what Jacob said.

“They wouldn’t tell us how close he was to death, but you could tell by looking at their (the doctors’) faces when you asked,” Pacheco’s husband Jacob told ABC News.

Life won’t be the same again: hands and feet amputated

The US media reviewing this shocking case report “that the aggressive treatment and drugs administered to him succeeded in saving his life”.

However, they explain that the blood stopped reaching his limbs and he had to analyze himself and make a difficult decision.

“When the blackness of Krystina’s hands and feet made a drastic decision inevitable, she remembers crying because ‘my life wouldn’t be the same again’.

“She is a strong woman”

Krystina left the hospital. He returned home, where he smiles. Despite everything, smile. Life gave her a second chance and, as her husband said, her children were waiting for her.

The press, as she and her relatives know, talk about the challenge of adjusting to living with her disability.

Jacob admires her: “She’s going to rehab to the fullest.”

They are waiting for their wounds to heal before the prostheses. “Krystina”, emphasizes the husband, “is a very, very strong woman”.