Woman blacks out for 40 days and has both legs amputated after 'cough' leads to deadly condition
A woman who lost both legs below the knee has described how an ordinary-looking cough turned her life upside down.
Denise Dibrell, 52, was attending her cousin’s wedding in Tennessee in July 2025 when she began coughing so severely that she could not breathe properly while lying down.
The symptoms appeared to ease, but after returning home to Las Vegas, Nevada, Denise sought medical help when her breathing difficulties continued.
Staff at an urgent care centre found her oxygen saturation was low and tested her for influenza A. The test came back positive, and an ambulance was then called to take her to St Rose Dominican Hospital for further checks.
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Denise remembers the ambulance arriving, but nothing else until she woke roughly 40 days later.
During that time, influenza A had led to sepsis and septic shock whilst respiratory distress forced doctors to place Denise in an induced coma.
Her blood pressure fell dangerously low, so she was given vasopressor medication to constrict her blood vessels and keep blood circulating around her vital organs. However, the lack of circulation reaching her extremities caused both feet to turn black and eventually die.
Denise said: "I had so many blood clots, and my blood pressure plummeted so low because there was no circulation getting to my feet.
"There was nothing they could do about it.
"Over the course of the next 30 days my feet died and became mummified and all while I was in a coma."
Her brother David, 56, had flown to be at her bedside after the family was notified that she had been admitted to hospital.
On August 15, doctors spoke with Denise’s mum, Patricia, 76, about the possibility of removing her life support.
Denise said: "Thank God she said 'no, let's keep her on life support'...They had tested for brain activity and all that good stuff and were saying I should be ok but couldn't guarantee there wouldn't be issues – cognitively there are some but nothing I've seen other people have to deal with.
"Had she said no, I wouldn't be here right now."
Denise regained consciousness on August 18 and said she initially ‘had no idea what was going on’.
She was discharged on August 20 after stabilising, before returning for a three-hour operation on September 15, 2025, in which both legs were amputated below the knee.
Her recovery was far from straightforward, as well. Denise developed antibiotic-resistant infections, suffered further blood clots, lost all her hair, and needed revision surgery when her right leg did not heal correctly.
Denise has since been fitted with prosthetic legs; they might not be the golden prosthetic legs we’ve seen before, but she has since begun learning to walk again.
She said: "My mental capacity came back pretty good, but I did have some memory loss
"I also had physical therapy and have started learning how to walk again.
"Now I'm in my below-the-knee prosthetics, and I can walk aided.
"I can walk with a walker."
Denise has since lost her job, and without insurance, her physical therapy is currently on hold. Despite the change to her life, though, she remains determined to keep moving forward.
Denise said: "I'm out here kicking ass, I'm not laying down and not sitting in misery
"I see it as a blessing more than I do anything else."
She added: "There's the saying 'life or limb', and mine was life".
Ben Williams