Young mum loses both arms and legs after being attacked by mongoose (photos)

Young  mum who was forced to have all her limbs amputated just days after being bitten by a mongoose says she feels lucky to still be alive. 

Shaninlea ‘Shan’ Visser, 36, from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, contracted sepsis two days after the attack on January 17, 2017, and was put in an induced coma for 11 days – with her family told there was little chance she would survive.

 After she woke up following the incident, Shan had to have both feet and hands amputated as well as her nose and lips and the tip of her tongue. Also diagnosed with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), she then underwent 66 reconstruction operations. Another is scheduled for April to begin her jaw reconstruction. 

The former transport broker, and mum-of-one to Kiara, 13, said: 

The doctor did blood tests but they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what caused the sepsis – but being bitten by the mongoose two days before is most likely to be the cause.

But Shan has tried to remain positive about her experience. She said: 

If I hadn’t been strong I don’t think I would be here today, as soon as you get a bit of negativity in your mind, you get depressed and everything goes downhill from there.

I want people to be aware of what sepsis can cause- life is too short, take the bull by the horns and go for it.