A teenage girl has been fighting for her life over the holidays after it’s believed she caught a deadly strain of E.Coli from food bought at a Christmas market.
Antonia, aged 17, was allowed home for December 25 according to her family but was back in hospital on Boxing Day for further treatment as part of her battle with the killer infection which led to a condition attacking her kidneys.
A gofundme site set up by Antonia’s older sister Jemima Hay said she had spent several weeks in intensive care and had “multiple operations” including the removal of part of her bowel.
A statement said the youngster, from Buckinghamshire, had contracted haemolytic uraemic syndrome (STEC-HUS) after suffering from an infection caused by food poisoning.
STEC-HUS attacks the small blood vessels in the kidneys, the rare condition can develop after people suffer a bacterial infection known as E.Coli 0157.
A gofundme page has now raised nearly £8,000 for Antonia’s recovery after aiming for a target of £5,000.
Her sister Jemima wrote on the site: “My younger sister, Antonia, has been in Intensive care in hospital for the last few weeks fighting for her life, after an absolute nightmare that has left our family broken.
“Antonia has had multiple operations and procedures (including removal of a section of her bowel), before it was found that she had likely contracted STEC-HUS, caused by e-coli O157, suspected to be from a Christmas market, causing her kidneys to fail and to be put on dialysis.
“She is currently lucky to be alive and has continued to show amazing determination and strength throughout this time, despite the immense stress, pain and trauma, all combined with an extreme phobia of injections.”
As part of an update on Antonia’s progress, Jemima shared an image of her sister on Christmas Eve in a hospital bed smiling and clutching a cuddly toy.
She wrote alongside the image: “After two weeks in intensive care, a transfer to another hospital, multiple operations, procedures and a blood transfusion, Antonia has been allowed to come home temporarily for Christmas Day, before returning back to hospital for further dialysis treatment on Boxing Day due to her kidney failure.
“She has improved immensely over the last couple of days and we hope this will continue and she will still be able to spend Christmas at home with us.”
According to Kidney Research UK STEC-HUS is caused by the “shiga-toxin” which is “produced by E.coli O157 bacteria”.
The organisation’s website states: “The outlook for patients with STEC-HUS is generally good and for most patients, there is recovery with little evidence of kidney damage. However, HUS is a serious disease and some people can have severely damaged kidneys or die as a result of HUS.
“After recovery, you may be left with mild permanent kidney damage, but sometimes it can be more severe. In the most severe cases, other organs may be damaged too.”
