LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — About a year and a half ago, Karole Steagall was living a normal life, just her and her dog, without any health issues to right home about.
Until October 2023, when everything changed.
"Woke up one day and felt like maybe I had Covid or the flu, just didn’t feel good. I remember calling into work saying I’m, oddly, just too sick to come," Steagall said.
"I remember feeling like I couldn’t stand up. Then the next thing I know, the fire department is trying to get into my apartment to get me.”
A wellness check turned into a hospital visit where Steagall was diagnosed with septic shock.
“They identified a bug, a bacteria. They said it was an unusual bacteria. I don’t know what it was but you’re not going to go out and get it from a water fountain you know? It’s not common," Steagall said.
“One physician said ‘I’ve been a physician for 35 years and I’ve never seen this. Most people you see who end up in that kind of septic shock with this type of stuff going on, they die.’”
Steagall's condition ultimately led to amputation of all her limbs, after four months of necrosis to see if her body would recover from sepsis.
“They wanted to wait and see if I had anything that would start to come back to life. At the time, it was if it doesn’t perk up then we’ll have them amputated," Steagall said.
“Waiting for it to happen, I just had these thoughts of ‘what if I’m trying to hold something and my thumb drops off.’ You wake up in the morning and half your hand is laying on the sheet. That would be a trip right? It didn’t happen.”
It's led to a difficult year and half for Steagall, fortunate to have the support of family and friends like Jenny Kenner.
“It has been grueling for Karole," Kenner said.
"I think with her being so independent, it has been extremely challenging for her to accept any kind of help from others because she’s always the one that helps everyone else.”
As a military veteran and a long time nurse, that independence comes pretty honestly for Steagall.
Her situation has been bleak at times, making it hard to keep pushing forward.
That being said, she'd rather be doing through this herself than someone she cares for living through this challenge.
"I’m another person going through something that is tragic but is mine worse than what she went through, no. Is it worse than that friend of mine over here, no. So you really can’t linger too long on that kind of thought," Steagall said.
Through sharing her story, Steagall hopes to not just get support from the community but to also be there for anyone else who is going through something similar.
“If it were to happen to somebody, they could get in touch with me and we could commiserate and we could be a support system," Steagall said.
If you want to learn more about Karole's story, click here.
