'My life is filled with joy': Woman who lost her hands and legs to septic shock speaks out after learning to walk again six months later

  • Pam Buschle, 53, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, contracted septic shock last December after a routine operation
  • With less than one percent chance of survival, doctor recommend medication that redirected blood from her limbs to her vital organs
  • Miraculously Pam responded to the treatment, but with her limbs no longer able to function she had them amputated below the knees and elbows
  • Now months later she has learned to walking again, to use prosthetic arms and is looking forward to regaining her independence
  • 'I have so much gratitude for still being in this world and being able to enjoy the things I enjoyed before,' she said

By David Mccormack

Published: 13:23 EST, 11 August 2014 | Updated: 14:54 EST, 11 August 2014


A woman who had both hands and feet amputated in her battle to survive a rare form of septic shock has said she is 'filled with joy' for the future after learning to walk again using prosthetics.

Pam Buschle, a 53-year-old social worker and mother from Grand Rapids, Michigan, had gone into hospital for routine abdominal surgery last December.

But days after the operation she went into septic shock, a condition in which the body’s response to an infection damages tissues and organs.

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Pam Buschle, a 53-year-old social worker and mother from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who had both hands and feet amputated in her battle to survive septic shock has said she is 'filled with joy' for the future after learning to walk again using prosthetics
Pam Buschle, a 53-year-old social worker and mother from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who had both hands and feet amputated in her battle to survive septic shock has said she is 'filled with joy' for the future after learning to walk again using prosthetics

Pam Buschle, a 53-year-old social worker and mother from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who had both hands and feet amputated in her battle to survive septic shock has said she is 'filled with joy' for the future after learning to walk again using prosthetics

With her liver, heart and kidneys failing, she was put into an induced coma and given medication to restrict blood flow to her limbs and redirect it to her vital organs.

Doctors told her husband Martin that the process carried a risk that part or all of her hands and feet would have to be amputated, but with odds of less than one per cent that his wife was going to survive there was little alternative.

 

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Miraculously Pam responded to the treatment, but with her limbs no longer able to function she had them amputated below the knees and elbows.

Now months later she has learned to walking again, to use prosthetic arms and is looking forward to regaining her independence. 

Doctors told Pam's husband Martin that his wife's odds of surviving the rare form of septic shock she had contracted was less than one per cent
Pam Buschle had gone into hospital for routine abdominal surgery last December

Doctors told Pam's husband Martin that his wife's odds of surviving the rare form of septic shock she had contracted was less than one per cent

‘I just want people to know that when they are going through something like an amputation or disabling condition, that there really is hope at the end of it – however dark it may seem in those moments,’ she told Michigan Live.

‘I’m a person who came through those darkest moments. And my life is filled with joy.’

She attributes her positive outlook to the help she has received at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids.

After nearly two months in hospital, Pam was transferred to Mary Free Bed where she spent four months as an inpatient slowly regaining strength and learning to use prosthetic legs and arms.

‘She was extremely inspirational, both on a therapy level and the personal level,’ said Britney Rauch, a physical therapist who helped Pam.

Eight months after her ordeal, Pam has learned to walking again, to use prosthetic arms and is looking forward to regaining her independence

Eight months after her ordeal, Pam has learned to walking again, to use prosthetic arms and is looking forward to regaining her independence

‘Any challenge I would give her, she would not only do but succeed so well. She had the most positive attitude and outlook on everything.’

When Pam left inpatient care on May 30, she walked out of Mary Free Bed on her prosthetic legs with the assistance of a walker, while friends and family cheered her on.

Pam continues to undergo outpatient therapy at Mary Free Bed and they have helped her and her husband learn about the many opportunities and equipment available to help people regain mobility.

Later this year she hopes to return to her job as a social worker..

'I have so much gratitude for still being in this world and being able to enjoy the things I enjoyed before,' she said.

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