A woman who woke up with no arms and no legs after returning from a holiday and falling ill has said she is just "grateful to be alive". Tatiana Timon is all smiles as she opens the door of her new ground-floor flat in Camberwell, South London - despite the concentration required for her to carry out this simple task.
It is less than a year since Tatiana - a former dancer and restaurant worker - became a quadruple amputee, after the dance holiday of a lifetime ended horribly. In May 2022, Tatiana joined a dance group on a trip to Angola in central Africa, to take her Kizomba to the next level in the country where it originated.
Tatiana described how she had the most "amazing" 10 days pursuing her passion in the south African country. But unknown to the 35-year-old, while abroad she had been bitten by a mosquito and contracted the "deadliest" form of Malaria. "I was clueless," said Tatiana, who admitted she should have checked the risks of travelling to Angola online, but said her mind was only focused on Covid at the time. It wasn't until a few days after she flew back to London that things began to escalate incredibly quickly.
