10 years ago, I survived a serious blood infection
and went into sepsis, which caused me to become blind
and lose both of my feet,
my left hand, and my right ring finger,
and also having skin grafts on 30% of my body.
Carol Decker went through
a terrible physical ordeal,
but her experience and how she dealt with
what happened to her has much to teach us.
I was 33 weeks pregnant and I had a fever of 103.7.
And the next day, I started having contractions,
and so that's when I knew I needed to go to the hospital.
And they put on the fetal monitor
and I was begging the nurses
to give me something for the pain and,
all of a sudden, there was like five people in the room
saying, "We have to get the baby out now."
So, they were wheeling me down the hall
and taking me to the operating room
and I kissed my husband goodbye, and little did I know
that would be the last time I would see his face.
Carol's infection turned into sepsis,
a potentially deadly complication
that can lead to organ failure,
drop in blood pressure, and abnormal heart function.
I was put into a drug-induced coma
and hooked up to every kinda machine you can think of.
I was intubated and had a central line put in
to access my arteries.
They pumped me full of fluids
'cause my blood pressure dropped so much,
that I probably weighed about 200 pounds
from all the fluids that they pumped me up with.
My fever went as high as 106.9.
My kidneys started to shut down,
so I was on dialysis a few different times,
and luckily they started working again.
Carol wasn't out of the woods yet,
as more complications arose.
I started forming blood clots on the tops of my thighs,
my abdomen, and my forearms.
They were like wounds on my body.
Then I would have to undergo
the grueling horrific thing of skin grafting,
where they took the skin from my back,
all the way from my scapula to my hips,
to use as my donor skin on those affected areas.
And there was one more crippling blow.
They did a CT and found out
that my ocular nerve was damaged
and left me completely blind as well.
So, I was faced with several complications
and spent the next three months in the hospital.
My newborn baby, Sophia,
was able to go home after five weeks.
But surviving sepsis in the hospital
wasn't the end of her struggle.
I went home,
and that's kinda of when my freight train hit.
As we pulled up in the driveway,
the first thing I realized is that my husband
was gonna have to carry me into the house
and help me to the bathroom 'cause I had to go.
My anxiety spiraled out of control
and I actually, the first day I came home,
I begged my husband to go back to the hospital.
I told them that I didn't belong
and that I couldn't be a wife and a mother to my girls
and I didn't really feel like I wanted to live.
Carol knew she was at a crossroads.
I had the choice, and everyone has that choice.
Either you give up or pick up,
and I could've done either
and no one would've ever been mad at me
for wanting to lay in bed the rest of my life,
but I wanted to choose to be happy
and I felt that I could make a positive place
for my children and have a good attitude.
I had this huge support system.
My family and friends and community were all behind me.
So, I decided to go back to the hospital
and do rehab for the next five weeks,
where it's like intense, learning how to walk
and feed myself, dress myself, and everything,
so learning how to live again, basically.
Carol uses technology, her prosthetics,
and her own indomitable spirit
to live a life that is strikingly normal.
Basically, when I'm in my own home,
everything is set up for me.
And so, I do laundry and I can do my own makeup
and hair and get dressed.
Everything's organized in my house.
And if you touch my stuff, you're in big trouble.
She learned something else, however.
Life is a gift.
If you don't open it,
you'll never experience the beauty inside.
When something like this happens, you ask yourself,
"Why did this happen to me?
"What did I do wrong
"and what could I have done differently?"
And I think we all go through that
and ask ourself those questions
when we go through loss or trials.
One of the other mottos that I have is to let go,
which means to let go of your fear,
'cause you can get over things
if you can get over the fear of it first.
You'll be able to accomplish a lot more.
Carol is grateful for every moment
and for the love of her family that helps carry her through.
Realizing that I was able to be at home with my family
and my husband was next to me in bed
and that I could hear my girls giggling
and that I could do things with them
and that I wasn't dead, (laughing) that I was alive,
and I couldn't take that for granted.
And gratitude just continually
just started coming into my heart
and realizing that I needed to embrace life
and live it to the fullest.
And here I am, 10 years later.
My daughter will be 10 on June 10th of this year,
and it's just, life is good. (laughing)