Mum’s Horror as Mystery Rash Reveals Life-Threatening Flesh-Eating Disease Days After Giving Birth

A new mum was horrified when a mysterious burn appeared on her body just days after giving birth, only to discover it was a sign of something far more sinister eating away at her from the inside. Charleigh Boyne, a 28-year-old dance teacher, had just welcomed her baby daughter Alessia when she was rushed back to the hospital less than a week later. While most new mothers experience fatigue after childbirth, Charleigh found herself struggling to stay awake just six days after giving birth.

Even more alarming, she noticed a painful, welted rash on her stomach that looked like a burn. Recalling the strange and worrying symptoms, Charleigh said, “The rash was painful, and I kept getting rigor shivers where my bones just felt like they were going to crumble. I just wanted to sleep – my husband was terrified.”

For 48 hours, Charleigh experienced waves of extreme exhaustion followed by intense sepsis shivers. Her temperature soared uncontrollably, and the rash spread rapidly across her abdomen. Sensing the severity of the situation, her husband Liam, 28, drove her to the hospital, a decision that would ultimately save her life, told The Mirror.

Doctors quickly diagnosed Charleigh with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare but deadly bacterial infection commonly known as flesh-eating disease. The infection was rapidly consuming the soft tissue in her abdomen, and Charleigh was informed that immediate surgery was necessary to save her life.

“It was the weirdest moment of my life,” Charleigh recalled. “It was like in a film where someone gets big news and everything goes muffled. It was an out-of-body experience.” Charleigh underwent a grueling six-hour surgery to remove the dead tissue and was then placed in a medically induced coma to aid her recovery. When she woke up two days later, doctors assured her that she would be okay.

Although Charleigh now bears a five-inch scar on her abdomen, she is grateful to be alive. “I don’t wear clothes where I have my stomach out, but in some outfits, you can see it because it’s a dent,” she said.

Despite the terrifying ordeal, Charleigh remains positive and is not deterred from having more children in the future, though she admits she would be “very wary.” She emphasized the importance of awareness about necrotizing fasciitis, saying, “As much as it’s rare, it’s still a possibility and it can’t be diagnosed if people don’t know what it is. When it comes, it comes quickly.”

Charleigh has since launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the Lee Spark NF Foundation and Colchester Hospital in Essex, both of which played crucial roles in saving her life. “I’m walking a half marathon for Lee Spark, who helped me come to terms with what happened, and for Colchester Hospital, who saved my life,” she shared.