Doctor reveals the one personal item you shouldn't risk sharing after woman was left paralyzed
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Jo Gilchrist
A doctor has issued a terrifying warning to those who share certain items with people after a woman in Australia nearly died.
Jo Gilchrist, from Queensland, Australia, had her life turned upside down back in 2015 after using a simple personal item she'd lent from a friend.
But Jo's friend was suffering a bacterial infection called Staphylococcus, though these are normally treated with antibiotics.
However, the bacteria that entered Jo's bloodstream via a small cut on her face was a strain known as Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), which is resistant to medicines such as penicillin.
Advert
The mom was ultimately left wheelchair-bound after borrowing her pal's makeup brush, having decided to use the beauty applicator to cover up a pimple.
Speaking to 9Entertainment about her terrible ordeal, she said: "It travelled around my body, into my spinal column and slowly strangled my spinal cord. I did at one stage think I was going to die, and I was dying slowly."
She added: "Lying in surgery staring at the lights, hyperventilating, telling them, 'I've got a two-year-old who needs me, I'm all he's got,' that was probably one of the hardest things I've ever been through."
Jo spent five months in hospital after falling ill, though an intensive rehab programme did mean she was able to walk again.
"I found this incredible place called Making Strides. Sometimes they're teaching people how to walk again or take their first steps, or they're teaching people to become more independent with their spinal cord injuries," she told 9Entertainment.
"In my case I was just incredibly lucky to have the message go down to my legs to be able to move them in the first place.
"To go from being mostly in my wheelchair to running, it's just incredible. I never ever thought that was possible, especially when you get told, 'You won't walk again, you can't do this'."
Singapore-based doctor Dr Samuel Choudhury shared Jo's story on Instagram, where he detailed the risks of sharing personal items such as makeup brush.
"It can still happen to anyone...say no to MRSA [and] don't share make-up brushes," the doctor said.
As for Jo, she is urging those who feel something isn't quite right with their body to go and get it checked out.
"Once you've been dealt a not so great hand, you do have the ability to stand up and fight for a little bit more independence or to overcome trauma," she continued to 9Entertainment.
"There's always a possibility that you might come out better than you ever thought was possible."