Texas teacher’s limbs became ‘mummified’ after infection she thought was just a cold

A Texas high school teacher who had all four of her limbs amputated after they turned black and became “mummified” following a seemingly routine infection says she’s choosing to be happy, despite the horrifying ordeal.

Sherri Moody, 51, who taught students in Deer Park outside Houston, started feeling what she thought was a cold coming on during a class trip in April 2023, and paid it little mind.

But within days, she found herself running a high fever. After waking up one night with trouble breathing, she went to the hospital.

“I’ve never gone to the ER before in my life,” Sherri told Today.com. “I was very healthy, very in shape. I ate right, exercised.”

Doctors determined she was suffering from double pneumonia, which they said had been brought on by streptococcus, the bacteria that causes strep throat.

Her body had gone into septic shock, a life-threatening response to infection which severely drops the body’s blood pressure.

“I had to Google what sepsis was. I had no idea. We’re pretty healthy people,” her husband, David, told Today.

“I recognized real quick that we were in a severe situation. I was scared to pieces.”

Complicating the matter was an arthritis medication Sherri had been taking, which weakened her body’s ability to fight infection.

David described Sherri’s ordeal as “like a category 5 hurricane coming in.”

“She had nothing to fight with. It’s like she went to war with no soldiers.”

Sherri, the mother of a grown son, was put into a coma by doctors, who treated her with drugs that fought to return blood flow to her vital organs — at the expense of circulation in her arms and legs.

“I literally watched my wife’s feet and hands die,” David said.

Horrifying photos show just that — Sherri sitting on the edge of a hospital bed with tubes running from her body and her hands and legs hanging black and limp.

“They were black and they were mummified,” he added.

After saving her life, doctors determined Sherri’s arms and legs needed to be amputated below the elbows and knees. She told Today that she cried at first, but felt calm despite the life-changing news.

The amputations were performed in June 2023, and by August, she was back home.

David and Sherri — high school sweethearts who graduated from the same high school where Sherri taught — are adjusting to the new realities of their life together.

He left his job to care for his wife full-time.

But both have tried to choose happiness and not let the hardships define them.

“I just choose to be happy,” Sherri said. “It’s not to say that I don’t have a breakdown every now and then and just cry a little bit. I don’t let it last long.”

David remains in awe of his wife’s strength — saying he feels like he’s had a harder time coping while she remains undeterred.

“She is just amazing. I’ve had more struggles,” he told Today.

“Both of us together talk about our blessings. We talk about the things that are going right in our day, in our lives,” David added.

Friends have set up a GoFundMe campaign that has raised more than $88,000 for the couple.

Septic shock affects about 750,000 Americans every year, according to the American Thoracic Society.

Roughly 30% of patients who undergo septic shock or severe sepsis die from the condition, which can be sparked by common infections.