A Kentucky woman who woke up as a quadruple amputee after surgery expressed her gratitude for life.
Lucinda Mullins had all four limbs removed as part of a routine kidney stone removal surgery, according to the Daily Mail. The 41-year-old Kentucky nurse had a kidney stone that became infected with sepsis, making the life-saving procedure urgent.
Smiling through the pain: Kentucky nurse, 41, wears a heartbreaking smile as she leaves her hospital bed for the first time since waking up from routine kidney stone surgery to find she’d had QUADRUPLE amputation due to sepsis https://t.co/Pe5DsYLe1n pic.twitter.com/qiBXs3eDcW
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) December 31, 2023
Doctors amputated both of Mullins’ legs before informing her that they would also have to remove both of her arms below the elbow as well, the outlet reported. Mullins went to Fort Logan Hospital in Stanford first, from which she was transferred via ambulance to a University of Kentucky hospital in Lexington.
“I’ve lost my legs from the knee down bilaterally and I’m going to lose my arms probably below the elbow bilaterally,” Mullins told LEX 18. “The doctor I used to work with, he kind of was like, ‘This is what they had to do to save your life. This is what’s happened.'”
Mullins said she was “just so happy to be alive,” stating that seeing her children, husband and family make life worth living, according to LEX 18.
Mullins was photographed smiling while leaving the hospital covered in bandages in a wheelchair alongside her sister, Luci Smith, Daily Mail reported. Smith wrote a Facebook post expressing gratitude for those supportive of Mullins, mentioning that the quadruple amputee would soon be referred again to Cardinal Hill for a few weeks. (RELATED: Woman Loses All 4 Limbs To Amputation After Eating Contaminated Fish)
“We would like to thank everyone again for all of the support, love, prayers, cards, food and visits (her favorite). You guys are amazing. In the next few days, we will move to Cardinal Hill for a couple weeks and then come back for hopefully her final surgery,” Smith wrote.
“Each day is a blessing from God and we will continue to praise him for the miracles he has performed,” Smith continued. “Today she got to leave the room and we ventured outside for some fresh crisp air. Keep praying and she’ll keep fighting until we are finally home.”