A MUSSELBURGH mum-of-two who cheated death after contracting life-threatening sepsis is now on the road to recovery.

Brave Ruth Quilietti-Bird – who at one point was the most ill person “in the whole of the UK”, according to her husband – moved hospital several times to receive specialist treatment for multiple organ failure, spending her 40th birthday in intensive care rather than on a planned holiday.

She has had both her feet amputated after they suffered tissue damage due to sepsis – a serious complication of an infection.  It was also feared that Ruth, who taught art at Knox Academy in Haddington and Preston Lodge High School, Prestonpans, might also lose her hands.

She is recovering at the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh, where she is getting used to her newly-fitted prosthetic legs with the aid of physiotherapists.

The health of her hands improved and she is keeping them busy by resuming her love of creative activities such as drawing, weaving and needlework.

Ruth is now looking forward to getting out of hospital to rejoin her family: husband Mark, 47, and their daughters, seven-year-old Lucia and Isabella, five.

East Lothian Courier:

But she can’t return to her New Street home in Musselburgh as it has an outdoor staircase and is no longer suitable, so the search for a new home is under way.

Now her friend Jacqueline Campbell has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £20,000 to help fund a mobility scooter and adapt a new property.

In March, Ruth suddenly started to have breathing problems along with vomiting and diarrhoea.

Mark, a nurse at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, said she was rushed to the accident and emergency unit at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh by paramedics who assessed that she was suffering from sepsis, which can be triggered by an infection and affected her immune system.

He said: “Her health deteriorated more and more and she was taken to the high dependency unit. They said they needed to ventilate Ruth and that was the last time I spoke to her for two-and-a-half weeks. She went into a medicalised coma.”

Mark said it was still unknown what was causing the infection, so Ruth received multiple antibiotics.

“The consultant told me to prepare myself because we were losing Ruth,” he said.

The medical team decided to take Ruth into theatre to connect an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) circuit to help her breathing.

Mark said: “They managed to stabilise her but her vital organs were failing. Her respiratory had already failed and her kidneys had failed.

“There was no one as ill as Ruth in the whole of the UK at that time, receiving that amount of support to keep her alive.”

Ruth was then transferred to a specialist ECMO unit at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

Mark said: “Her liver was failing and her heart was beginning to fail.

“They said again that they were losing Ruth and she wouldn’t last the in-patient stay.

“They made the decision to fit a second ECMO circuit to support her heart and this stabilised her.

“I was told several times I might be potentially losing Ruth. Then things started improving and they were able to withdraw some of the support and her blood tests were showing very small improvements.

“Ruth was infected with group ‘A’ streptococcal, a very aggressive bacteria which is around us all the time.

“Ruth’s immune system was already affected, so it was able to take over very quickly, causing failure to the vital organs. She was diagnosed with sepsis and pneumonia.”

Ruth began to make progress with her breathing, her heart started to stabilise and her kidneys started to improve. Doctors felt they could remove the ECMO circuit for the heart and rescind the ‘do not resuscitate’ notice.

As doctors brought Ruth out of sedation, she faced the risk of haemorrhaging throughout the body because of blood thinning and medications.

Mark said: “I remember her opening her eyes and looking at me.

“We put our foreheads together and looked into each others’ eyes. I knew that Ruth was back.

“How close she was to dying on several occasions is still difficult to comprehend.”

A special moment for Ruth was a visit by her daughters for her birthday when they took her cuddly toys and held her hand. Her mum and dad were also at her bedside.

Ruth was moved back to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, where her ventilator was removed and she was able to start to speak.

But as she got better, she was to face a huge decision as a result of the tissue damage, caused by the lack of blood flow, which had turned her feet black.

She was told she would have to lose her right foot and possibly half of her left foot, with surgery carried out at St John’s Hospital in Livingston.

But Ruth, determined to get the best quality of life, made the decision to lose both feet below the knee, which would give her more choices in terms of prosthetics and improve her recovery.

East Lothian Courier:

Mark paid tribute to the “wonderful” hospital staff who had “given everything for Ruth”.

He highlighted the help he had received from friends and family over the past few months, including the network of ‘Supermums’ who looked after Lucia and Isabella, friends, neighbours and colleagues at the Western General.

He said: “The kindness of people has been overwhelming. They want to help so much.”

The family have also received support from the charity ‘Finding Your Feet’, which helps families affected by amputation or limb difference.

Donate to the crowdfunding campaign for Ruth at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ruthq-b