A mother has had all four limbs amputated after a devastating reaction to two common winter infections. 

Arisbeth Munoz, 39-year-old a mom-of-two, went to the emergency department after she began vomiting and experiencing pain across her body in December 2024. 

Tests confirmed the San Diego native was suffering from the flu and and strep A – a common bacteria that typically causes mild illnesses like strep throat. 

While in the hospital receiving treatment, she developed sepsis, an overreaction of the immune system in which the body attacks healthy tissue.

As her body struggled to get blood and oxygen to her extremities, her limbs began to die and rot, a complication known as necrotizing fasciitis. 

Doctors were forced to put her on a ventilator to prevent her lungs or heart from giving out. While sedated, they performed amputations to her right leg below the knee, her left leg above the knee, her right arm, and her left hand, to preserve what remained.

Munoz said: ‘Having been perfectly fine that morning, my body was now in a state of sepsis… my family was contacted so that we could say our final goodbyes as I was expected to die that night.’

She continued in her GoFundMe post: ‘It’s difficult. It’s changed my life. I can’t take care of my children 100 percent. I saw my arms and legs: darkness. I think it’s a bad dream. 

Arisbeth Munoz, 39, lost her right leg below the knee, her left leg above the knee, her right arm and her left hand due to sepsis and necrotizing fasciitis

She had initially gone to her local emergency room due to vomiting and pain in her body

‘For five months since being admitted into the ER, I was admitted into six different hospitals, and was able to keep breathing with the help of machines. I was able to remain stable with the help of dialysis and with feeding tubes.’ 

After spending five months in the hospital, she was finally discharged in April 2025 and can now breathe and eat independently, but remains concerned over how she will care for her two autistic children – Matthew and Enrique. 

Strep A is a common bacteria that usually causes mild illnesses like strep throat or skin infections. 

But in rare cases, it can get into the bloodstream or deeper parts of the body, where it becomes much more dangerous.

Once inside, it can trigger sepsis, a severe immune reaction where the body attacks its own tissues while trying to fight the infection.

In some cases, strep A can also cause necrotizing fasciitis, also known as ‘flesh-eating disease.’ 

This happens when the bacteria rapidly destroy skin, muscle, and other soft tissue.

Since 2010, the number of reported cases of necrotizing fasciitis caused by group A strep bacteria ranged from 700 to 1,200 per year in the US, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

About one in three people infected die. 

While Munoz was also warned that she may die from sepsis and necrotizing fasciitis the same night doctors diagnosed her with the infections, she miraculously survived

The San Diego mother is now trying to raise funds for prosthetics to care for both of her autistic boys

While Munoz survived, she’s been left with debilitating injuries. 

To help with her recovery, Munoz launched a crowdfunding page to raise funds for prosthetics.  

She said: ‘As a mother, this would truly help me continue to care for myself and for my two sons, Matthew and Enrique, who are autistic and who have relied heavily on me in terms of care, as well as to be present at their therapy, evaluation and medical appointments. 

‘Now, during this trying time, I desire nothing more than to continue to care for them. It is for this reason that I need your help more than ever, so I can afford these prosthetics.’

In the meantime, she’s managing as best as she can and told 10News: ‘I can eat [by] myself and brush my teeth by myself. I can push myself out of the bed on my side.

‘I’m grateful because I’m alive and I can stay with my kids.’