Recently I had the deeply touching and rewarding experience of interviewing Brenda Ross on Health Fitness Broadcast. I’d like to share Brenda’s story with you, as it is a remarkable one of survival.
Brenda had suffered with migraine headaches for much of her life. A specialist prescribed steroid injections as treatment for the migraines. After five years of treatment the steroid treatment was immediately stopped.
In spite of the terminated treatment, Brenda experienced the feeling of a racing heart and was quickly hospitalized. At this point, she was diagnosed with adrenal failure and sepsis – a systematic response to infection which causes organ failure. Brenda went into cardiac arrest. In response, Brenda’s team of doctors put her in a medically-induced coma, followed by emergency surgery. During the surgery, the doctors discovered that necrotizing fasciitis , a rare soft tissue bacterial infection commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria, was ravaging Brenda’s body.
Later Brenda awoke from the coma to the shocking news that both of her legs were missing from below the knee. In addition, she had lost her fingertips of her right hand. In her heavily medicated state, Brenda wondered if her husband was aware of her condition. Little did she realize that her husband Ed had been by her side at the hospital every day for the past two and a half months while she had been in the coma.
In fact, Ed spent the next three and a half months by his wife’s side at the hospital as she began the slow recuperation process. (Ed only missed two days at the hospital during that time, due to a snowstorm.) Brenda’s six-month hospital stay was followed by a six-month home recuperation period. Brenda was motivated by the love of her family – her children Christopher, Joshua and Sarah were then 14, 11 and 9 – and her mind was set to show to her children that life is worth living. Brenda spent these months strengthening her upper body by relying on her arms to move her about her home.
The happy ending? Today Brenda is very physically active and is an inspiration to us all. She moved on to own and operates a fitness center for women in Philadelphia where her focus was on helping her members achieve their fitness goals, never putting the focus on herself.
Brenda Ross is a mentor to other amputees, sending this message to them and their families. “Don’t mourn the loss of the limb, instead celebrate the life that you have.” Immediately after my interview with Brenda I spoke with her husband and shared my thoughts on how wonderful it must have been for Brenda to have his love and support during her recovery. Ed responded, “I am the one that has been blessed in this relationship.” This remarkable woman clearly has a remarkable man.
Article written by Sherri Horner
