DESTIN, Fla. – A mother says her daughter contracted a deadly bacterial infection while the family vacationed on a popular Florida beach.
Michelle Brown shared her story Monday on Facebook along with photos of her daughter Kylei's infection that had spread through her leg. The infection turned out to be necrotizing fascittis which causes a person's skin and tissue to deteriorate.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say one in three people die from necrotizing fasciitis.
Brown said her family arrived in Destin on June 7, but were unable to swim in the ocean until a few days later due to bad weather. Another day, the beach was closed due to murky conditions.
One day after spending an afternoon in the ocean, Kylei complained of pain in her calf. The pain became worse over the next few days, leaving Brown's daughter in tears.
I have spent the past few days contemplating on if I should publicly share Kylei’s situation. I have spent the past few...
Posted by Michelle Brown on Monday, June 24, 2019
When the family returned home to Indiana, Brown took Kylei to the hospital when the pain didn't subside and a red line was running down her daughter's leg. Kylei also began to spike a fever that rose to 103°.
After an MRI showed the infection had spread to her thigh, doctors performed surgery to save Kylei's leg. The girl underwent additional surgeries after she developed septic shock.
Brown says her daughter spent a week in the hospital before being released and is now "doing better and stabilized, but she is still sick and have a long road of recovery to go."
Brown believes Kylei contracted the infection through a scrape on her toe while in the waters off Destin.