Woman With Flesh-Eating Bacteria Faces Possible Amputations

Sign up for the Dacula Patch newsletter!

-------

A donation fund has been set up to support a Gwinnett County, Ga., woman who is battling flesh-eating bacteria.

Cindy Martinez, wife of Gwinnett County police officer David Martinez, has been in the Gwinnett Medical Center since late May, when she first complained of a pain in her shoulder.

WSB-TV reports Martinez risks amputation of her hands and feet; doctors have already surgically removed some dead tissue from her body.

According to updates on the “Cindy Martinez Family Fund” page on GoFundMe, Martinez has been diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis and myositis, and has already had several surgeries, with more expected. Three years ago, another Gwinnett County resident, Aimee Copeland, also suffering from necrotizing fasciitis, lost her hands and feet after contracting the bacteria while zip-lining.

Related on Patch

• ‘Flesh-Eating’ Bacteria Hits Home
• Flesh-Eating Bacteria Warnings Go Up in Florida
• Snellville Woman Fighting Flesh-Eating Disease
• Aimee Copeland: It Takes More Than Hands to Make a Home

The GoFundMe page is collecting money to help the Martinez family with medical bills and after-care expenses. As of Friday morning, more than $13,000 (of a $500,000 goal) had been raised. The couple has two young children.

It is not known how Martinez contracted the bacteria. David Martinez, who has taken a leave of absence from the police force, told WSB his wife didn’t have any injury and there was nothing noticeable near where the shoulder pain first started.

How you can help

• GoFundMe: “Cindy Martinez Family Fund”
• Facebook: ”Support Cindy & David Martinez”

Doctors say the flesh-eating bacteria usually enters through an open wound on those diagnosed with it. Doctors have yet to determine how the bacteria entered her body.

David Martinez posted this timeline of his wife’s ordeal so far on the GoFund Me page:

• 5-25-15: Cindy goes to ER (Gwinnett Medical Center-Lawrenceville) for severe left shoulder blade pain.
• 5-26-15: Early morning hours Cindy had emergency surgery to save her life. In the afternoon she had another surgery to save her life. The bacteria had affected her entire body and is shutting down.
• 5-27-15: Cindy had another surgery and battles to stay alive.
• 5-29-15: Cindy had another surgery. At this point her left lat-muscle and other tissue down to the left side of her body had been removed, which was dead.
• Cindy is on every machine at the hospital to help keep her alive. People all over the world pray for Cindy.
• 6-1-15: Me and a friend pray with Cindy in ICU. Cindy accepts salvation for the first time in her life. This is when I realized that it’s in God’s hands.
• Cindy makes progress over the next few days, but she isn’t in the clear.
• 6-9-15: I explain everything to Cindy. She is shocked, but accepts the will of God.
• Cindy is known around the hospital as the “Miracle Girl” and “Miracle Child.”
• She now faces the possibility of losing her hands and feet. I’m praying for another miracle.

The couple has been married 13 years. They met while in the U.S. Marine Corps, WSB reported.

Image courtesy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention