The mother had all four limbs amputated after a catastrophic response to two common winter infections.
Arisbeth Munoz, 39, was a mom of two and went to the emergency department after vomiting and began experiencing pain throughout her body in December 2024.
Tests confirmed that the San Diego native was suffering influenza and Strip a – Common bacteria that usually cause mild illnesses like streptococci.
While undergoing treatment in the hospital, she developed sepsis. This is an overreaction of the immune system that attacks healthy tissues by the body.
When her body struggled to get blood and oxygen in her limbs, her limbs began to die, a complication known as rotten fasciitis.
The doctor was forced to put her on a ventilator to prevent her lungs and heart from coming out. During sedation, they performed amputations on the right leg below the knee, maintaining what remains in the left leg above the knee, right arm and left hand.
Munoz said: “I was in perfect health that morning, so my body was in what it is now. Sepsis…My family was contacted so that I could say our final goodbye, as I was expected to die that night. ”
She continued to gofundme post: ‘it’s difficult. It changed my life. I can’t take care of my children 100%. I saw my arms and legs: darkness. I think it’s a bad dream.
Alicebeth Munoz, 39, lost his right leg below the knee, left leg above the knee, right arm, and left hand due to sepsis and necrotizing fasciitis
She was first going to the local emergency room due to vomiting and pain in her body
“For five months since I was admitted to the ER, I was able to stay in six different hospitals and with the help of a machine I was able to keep breathing. With the help of dialysis and feeding tubes, I was able to stay stable.
After spending five months in the hospital, she was eventually discharged from the hospital in April 2025, and is now able to breathe and eat, but continues to worry about how she will take care of her two autistic children, Matthew and Enrique.
Streptococcus A is a common bacteria that usually causes mild illnesses, such as streptococcus or skin infections.
However, in rare cases, it can enter the bloodstream or deeper parts of the body, where it becomes much more dangerous.
If you enter it, it can cause sepsis. Sepsis can cause a severe immune response in which the body attacks its own tissues while trying to combat an infection.
In some cases, Streptococcus A can also cause necrotizing fasciitis, also known as a “carnivorous disease.”
This occurs when bacteria rapidly destroy skin, muscles and other soft tissues.
The number of cases of necrotizing fasciitis caused by Group A streptococcal bacteria since 2010 has ranged from 700 to 1,200 per year in the US, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Approximately one in three infected people dies.
Munoz was also warned that she might die of sepsis, but the same night, doctors were warned that she had diagnosed her with an infection, but she miraculously survived.
San Diego’s mother is currently trying to raise funds for prosthetic prosthetics to care for both autistic boys
While Munoz is still alive, she is left with debilitating injuries.
To help her recover, Munoz launched a crowdfunding page to raise funds Prosthetics.
She said: “As a mother, this really helps me to be present in myself and my two sons, Matthew and Enrique, who are autistic and rely heavily on me in terms of care, and to be present in treatment, evaluation, and medical appointments.
“Now, during this ordeal, I have no desire to continue caring for them. For this reason, I can afford these prosthetic legs because I need your help more than ever.”
In the meantime, she said it in the best possible way. 10News:’I can eat [by] Brush your teeth yourself and yourself. I can push myself out of my side bed.
“I’m grateful because I’m alive and I can be with my kids.”
