I nearly died and had to learn to walk again after catching a flesh-eating bug

Sam Lewis, 38, a children’s entertainer from Bournemouth, was getting her two younger children ready for school one 2021 morning when she experienced severe chest pain. She rushed to hospital but was sent home with painkillers, after being told she had a condition called 'costochondritis', an inflammation of where your ribs join your breastbone.

The following March she was struck by a similar pain again and, after seeing her GP, was diagnosed with Long COVID.

Later that month, though, Sam’s chest pain became so bad she underwent an emergency CT scan that revealed a gallstone was blocking her bile duct. "The consultant told me, 'We believe you have acute pancreatitis' [where the pancreas suddenly becomes inflamed and swollen]. They told me the gallstone had caused this, but reassured me by saying, 'We’re going to put you on a low-fat diet and you’ll be fine.'"

But events took a terrifying turn. "Overnight, my condition went from acute pancreatitis to necrotising fasciitis [the same flesh-eating disease that Irish actor Barry Keoghan recently spoke of],’" she says. "My whole body swelled up. My gallstone was attacking my pancreas. I looked so swollen I looked like I was eight months' pregnant. I couldn't move my ankles either."

Sam was rushed to intensive care and her family was given the devastating news that she might not make it. "Pancreatitis is evil and it can take you..." says Sam. "It was really tough. My family came in. It was heart-wrenching. I couldn't breathe properly. It was just so scary."

Doctors made the decision to put Sam in an induced coma and operated to remove the dead tissue and half of her pancreas.

A few days later, Sam woke up with a drainage bag and a feeding tube attached to her body. To her horror, she also found she couldn't walk.

Sam was kept in Southampton Hospital for a month, before spending another month back in Bournemouth Hospital. Finally, she was able to head home in August 2022.

More than two years later, Sam never forgets how lucky she is to be alive, but she has been left with chronic pancreatitis – where the pancreas has become permanently damaged from inflammation and stops working properly.

It means she now has to follow a strict, low-carb diet and can't have some of her favourite foods such as a fry-up and pastries. If she doesn’t stick to this, her condition is likely to flare up again and she could end up back in hospital.

"It's something I have to live with," she says wistfully. "I used to love my food. I used to love going out to restaurants. Now I avoid going anywhere in case I get a flare-up. I can't even have crisps, chocolate, or fish and chips. I can't have fast food and I can't even pop to the bakery."

It took a year for Sam to be able to walk properly again and now, over two years later, Sam still hasn't been able to go back to work.

This Christmas, she longs to 'indulge' a little but worries she'll end up in back in hospital with an inflamed pancreas, so she won’t be taking any chances with rich Christmas food.

Meanwhile, after her ordeal, she is determined to make the most of life and focus on what really matters. "This year I'm so excited for Christmas with my family,” she says. "I'm ready to really enjoy it."

Research by SWNS. If you're suffering from pancreatitis or another condition affecting the digestive system, you can visit the charity Guts UK! for support and information.

Read more on digestion and gut health:

• I went to the toilet 40 times a day but having a stoma changed my life (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)

• I was dragged out of a disabled toilet as my illness isn't visible (Yahoo Life UK, 3-min read)

• Mum becomes TikTok star sharing videos of her stoma bag to normalise Crohn’s disease (Yahoo Life UK, 6-min read)