'Dance saved me from flesh-eating killer bug'

Sep 23 2009 By Dan Coombs, Uxbridge Gazette

A DANCING pensioner who was struck down by a flesh-eating disease and spent two months in hospital is thanking the nurses who saved her leg. Now she just wants to dance again.

Estelle Brace, 73, of Drayton Gardens, West Drayton, is the founder of an 'active over-60s' club in Uxbridge and is a regular dancer at Hayes Methodist Church, in Station Road, Hayes.

But no amount of keeping fit could prepare Mrs Brace for the moment her life was threatened by what was then a mystery illness - only to be saved by a neighbour and by her own love of dancing.

She said: "It was July 17 and I had been dancing two days before. I just passed out in my living room.

"Fortunately a young girl who is a neighbour saw that my car hadn't moved, as I usually go dancing every Friday, and came to check I was alright.

"But when I came crawling to the door she rushed me to hospital."

Mrs Brace, a widow of 27 years, was taken to Kennedy ward at Hillingdon Hospital in Pield Heath Road, Hillingdon, where doctors discovered she had necrotising fasciitis, a rare infection which eats away at flesh.

"I was in hospital for 57 days, at Hillingdon and then at the Royal Free Hospital in London," said Mrs Brace.

"My leg had swollen up and I was in isolation. It was a serious infection; if it wasn't for the doctors my leg would have had to be amputated.

"They cut away flesh from my right knee to my ankle, and then from my knee upwards."

Mrs Brace only came out of hospital at the beginning of September. "I feel like I missed two months of my life, I missed the whole summer, although my friends assure me I didn't miss much.

"The doctors told me they rarely see anyone suffering from what I had. I've heard horror stories where people have lost limbs from this type of thing.

"My daughters have been fantastic, and have been looking after me ever since I got out of hospital, with home-cooked meals every night.

"I want to say thank you to the nurses at the hospital, they work 12-hour shifts and just never stop."

After her battle with the disease, Mrs Brace is determined to resume her hobby. She said: "I just want to get back on my feet and dance again. I hope I am able to."