A woman was struck down with a deadly sinus infection which resulted in her losing half of her skull.
Natasha Gunther, 25, was initially prescribed with antibiotics when she popped to her doctor with another sinus infection and thought nothing of it.
However when her symptoms got worse, the martial arts instructor ended up in hospital where she underwent emergency neurosurgery to remove half of her skull.
Natasha, from California, USA, is now left with a huge dent in her head and is bravely sharing her story on TikTok to raise awareness about the seriousness of sinus infections.
“This all started because I had a lot of sinus infections last year. I had about five to six of them," she said.
“I kept going to my primary doctor who prescribed antibiotics for a normal sinus infection.
“But it got so bad to the point that I was throwing up a lot and having horrible migraines."
Natasha told how her parents forced her to get a CT scan on December 12 when she had the biggest shock of her life.
That same night, she had her first emergency brain surgery including a craniotomy.
Surgeons removed Natasha's bone and discovered she had a massive amount of straph and strep caused by the sinus infections.
"That mass had moved my brain 9mm to the right," she added.
Two days before Christmas, Natasha had another emergency brain op when surgeons removed half of her skull.
“In total, they removed around 12-14cm of my skull and put it into a freezer," she continued.
"I stayed in hospital for another five weeks and also had further sinus surgery."
The instructor told how she usually suffered from one sinus infection a year but that the number increased last year.
She said: “As most people who get sinus infections will know, you don’t think anything of them and neither did my usual doctor. I teach martial arts to kids so I’m used to getting colds.
“Surgeons told me I would have been dead within a week if I hadn’t gone to the hospital when I did.
“If you have more than one sinus infection per year or even just a sinus infection, please go to the hospital or the ENT [Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic in the USA] just to be safe.
“Please just don’t rely on your primary doctor [GP in the UK] because it could be serious.
“I don’t want anyone to go through what I did. I have half a head now and you can avoid that!”
Courageous Natasha says she couldn’t have got through this without the support of her parents Marty and Nicole and her boyfriend Joao.
Her family are so proud of the way Natasha is turning her experience into a positive to help others – even whilst she is still recovering only a few months from her operation.
Although Natasha’s life has been forever changed, she is hoping to undergo surgery to get her original skull or a 3D print of her skull put back in later this year.
She says: “I’m waiting to get my skull put back in April this year.
“Doctors are either going to use my skull that they have kept in the freezer. Or if that doesn’t work, they’re going to make a 3D print of my skull and insert that in.
“I’m hoping to go back to the normal life by the end of this year but it’s been hard.
“My life is very different to what it used to be. I used to have a busy life teaching martial arts and hanging out friends every day – like any person in their twenties.
“When I came out of surgery, I struggled to talk so I’ve been having regular speech therapy since then.
“My boyfriend Joao – is also a martial arts instructor – has been doing a lot psychical therapy so I can get my energy back in my body. But there are some martial arts moves like grappling that will be too risky for me to every do again.
“But I’m staying positive and I try to have a sense of humour about everything.
“I want to share my story and raise awareness so that others get the help they need – before it’s too late. That’s all I care about now.”
