Kentucky Woman Gets Her Limbs Amputated After Kidney Stone Infection: 'I'm Just So Happy to Be Alive'
"I just said, ‘These are the cards I've been dealt and these are the hands I'm going to play,’ ” Cindy Mullins told a local outlet
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Cindy MullinsA Kentucky woman is adapting to a new way of life after losing her limbs because of a kidney stone infection.
Cindy Mullins’ legs were amputated after she suffered from an infected kidney stone, and her arms are next, according to Lexington, Kentucky's WLEX.
"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, 41, told the outlet.
"I've lost my legs from the knees down bilaterally, and I'm going to lose my arms probably below the elbow bilaterally," she added.
Mullins, who is a nurse, told WLEX that her quadruple amputation is the result of a “perfect storm” resulting from a kidney stone she had a few weeks ago.
Following treatment, the stone got infected, and she became septic, Mullins told the outlet. She was then transported from a hospital in Stanford to one in Lexington, where she was sedated for days.
Related: Tennessee Teen Has His Hands and Feet Amputated After 'Extremely Rare' Bacterial Infection
After waking up, Mullins learned she would have to lose all four of her limbs.
“I just said, ‘These are the cards I've been dealt and these are the hands I'm going to play,’” she told WLEX, which noted she reacted to the news in a surprisingly calm manner.
“I'm just so happy to be alive,” added Mullins, a mother of two. “I get to see my kids. I get to see my family. I get to have my time with my husband. Those are minor things at this point.”
As she undergoes the life-changing surgeries, the long-time nurse said she has been taking things slow — and letting others take the wheel.
“Slow down. Appreciate the things around you, especially your family,” she told WLEX of how she is approaching life now. “It's okay to let people take care of you.”
And in her time of need, people have flocked to Mullins to do just that. "At one time I think they told [me] 40 people were in the waiting room here,” she told the outlet.
“The calls and the texts, the prayers and the things people have sent. The little words of encouragement. … I just can't fathom that people are doing things like that for me,” she added.
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A GoFundMe fundraiser was also started in Mullins’ name to help fund “adjustments" to her home, as well as provide “prosthetics and adaptive equipment." As of Sunday afternoon, it has raised over $100,000 of its $250,000 goal.
Mullins will undergo her final surgery in a couple weeks, according to a GoFundMe update shared by her sister Luci.
“Friday she got to leave the room and we ventured outside for some fresh crisp air,” Luci wrote. “Keep praying and she’ll keep fighting until we are finally home.”
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