A mum who tripped while playing with her children in the garden ended up having to have her leg amputated. Deanna Crump was chasing after her two little boys - Isaac, one, and Jerry, three - on August 14 when she fell over and dislocated her right knee, Wales Online reports.
The 31-year-old described how she looked down in horror to see her leg just "hanging there" and was rushed to hospital by ambulance. Deanna had fractured the two bones that connect to her knee, had multiple torn ligaments and damaged arteries - with doctors unable to "find a pulse" in her leg or foot.
She was immediately sent for an emergency operation to try and get the blood flow back into her leg, with surgeons then discovering that she also had blood clots. Deanna then had to undergo another procedure to remove the clots, however this was unsuccessful and she had to have a third surgery.
It wasn’t until then that medics were successful in repairing Deanna's arteries and she regained the pulse and blood flow in her leg and foot. Unfortunately, there were complications and Deanna began to internally bleed.
She then had to have her fourth surgery where the doctor accidentally nipped an artery in her stomach - during which she lost so much blood she nearly died and had to undergo a blood transfusion. This time they discovered several more blood clots and she once again lost the pulse in her leg and foot.
Her foot and toes started "turning black" and she was told her leg was "dying" - as the blood flow stopped pumping to it and the bottom started to change colour. After a week, doctors told her there was nothing more they could do - Deanna then underwent an operation to have her leg amputated below her right knee.
Now learning to live without her limb, Deanna is living one day at a time. The stay-at-home mum said: "I am super thankful to be alive and to be at home with my husband and kids. I just tripped and looked down. I was in extreme pain and my leg was just hanging there.
"The ambulance came and picked me up as my husband, Jerry, 38, was at home with the kids, it wasn't like he could pack the car and take them. When I first got to the hospital, they were trying anything and everything they could to get the pulse back in my foot - as I still had feeling in my leg and toes."
After being in hospital for a week, the doctors decided there is nothing more they could do for Deanna and she was transferred. She said: "I got there, and they gave me a CT scan right away, they said there was nothing they could do for me.
"My foot and toes were turning black, and my leg was dead. They said they would either have to amputate above or below the knee - they decided above the knee is what they had to amputate."
Deanna was given 45 minutes to process the news before she was rushed to surgery. She said: "It destroyed me, all I kept thinking was 'is this my life?". Emotionally I am destroyed over it, physically I am over a month post-amputation, and I am still in pain every day."
Deanna was in surgery for five-and-a-half hours, she then spent six days in ICU and got moved into outer ICU for three days, before leaving hospital on August 30. Deanna said: "Honestly, the nurses at the hospital made it better, it was an up and down rollercoaster of emotions.
"They wanted me to get up and out of bed and I was there yelling saying I couldn't, but I did it and when I did, I was very happy."
Deanna is expected to be fitted with a prosthetic by the end of the year and said since returning home it has been a "rollercoaster of emotions" for her and her family. She added: "When I got home, I had a few bad days at first, lying in bed all day and crying but over the last week or so I am starting to feel better, getting up and going outside again with my family.
"Right now, I am on the rollercoaster ride going up, I can finally look myself in the mirror and I didn't look at it for two days after the surgery. The day we came home it was nothing but sunshine and then halfway home it was like a monsoon, pouring down with rain - it was a beautiful mess.
"I did not care I was so happy to be home."
Deanna now does physical therapy twice a week. She has set up a GoFundMe page - where she has so far raised money to put towards house renovations and supporting the family while her husband, Jerry, 38, a teacher, is off work caring for her.
She said: "We have a very small house, our insurance isn't too good, and we needed so much stuff, like a ramp, a walker and to get the house ready for when I came home. We also needed enough money for my husband to be able to stay at home and look after the kids.
"The money will go towards making my car hand accessible when I can start driving, making my house more accessible - probably taking a wall down so I can get around easier and creating a new front porch. There is no end cap, everything we have gotten so far we have greatly appreciated."
To donate visit - https://gofund.me/89615b29
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