UK woman loses leg after dip in hot tub

Twenty-five year-old Lauren Briggs lost her leg and toes after spending an evening at a hot tub party.

Although the incident occurred in January, Briggs was only just discharged this April after the amputations and multiple skin grafts.

Lauren, who is from Essex, UK, had been enjoying an evening in the hot tub with friends but when she woke up the next morning, she couldn’t breathe.

'I went to sleep that night feeling a bit nauseous but my friend found me in the early hours of the next morning gasping for breath on the floor. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital wondering what was going on,” Lauren said.

Lauren was diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia - a life threatening and fast acting blood infection.

The doctors told her she had likely gotten the bacterial infection from the hot tub, through a small cut on her foot.

When her mother, Tracey, arrived at the hospital, she said she didn’t recognize her daughter because she was so swollen and blue.

“I thought they had taken me to the wrong window; when I saw her, I fell to the floor and begged God to save her and not to let her go,” Tracey said.

Lauren was put on life support for 48 hours and the following days were spent doing skin grafts.

'They would regularly take Lauren down to theatre to clean the feet up and check everything and on this one particular day, she was in there all day and I knew something must have been happening,” Tracey said.

In the end they couldn’t save her right leg or the toes on her left foot which had to be amputated to save her life.

“I had no idea about the amputations because I felt like I still had both my feet - I lifted the covers up and saw and was devastated,” Lauren said.

Lauren’s illness left her with a speech impediment, with some lasting effects to her short-term memory and fine motor skills, and unable to return to her job as a surgical office receptionist. Although she used to live with her mother, since being discharged April 30, she has had to find alternate temporary accommodations that allow for her wheel chair until she can afford to adapt a permanent home.

To donate to Lauren’s fundraiser to help adapt her home for her wheelchair, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-laurenlive- a-normal-life-again?utm_campaign=p_ cp+share-sheet& utm_medium=copy_link_ all& utm_source=customer.