Dawn has a passion for traveling
and Africa was a place she had always wanted to visit. Dawn chose not to take malaria prophylactic
medication and unfortunately was bitten by an infected mosquito while in Ghana.
Dawn returned to Chicago approximately ten
days after being bitten in Ghana, Africa and began feeling very tired and
looking pale, thinking she was just suffering from jet-lag. The next day Dawn returned to work at
Childrens Memorial Hospital and left early because she was feeling weak,
nauseated and complaining of headache.
Later that evening Dawn developed fever and chills that continued until early morning. Dawn very concerned went directly to the emergency room that morning when she woke, where she was diagnosed with the most deadly strand of malaria, Plasmodium falciparum.
While in the ICU Dawn developed further complications from septic shock, had limited circulation to her extremities, and as a result underwent surgery requiring amputation of her limbs just below the elbows and knees.
Dawn realized she was a quadruple amputee approximately one month later when she came back to consciousness, and felt extremely devastated about her limb loss.
Fortunately, Dawn has a large support system consisting of family, friends, colleagues and medical staff, and through many tears and emotions has learned to cope with the struggles of limb loss.
Help us in the fight against Malaria.
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