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For most people, getting the flu means a few days of sickness and then a return to regular life. But for Kristin Fox, a 42-year-old mother and high-school principal in Ohio, the virus led to the loss of her arms and legs — and the start of a long, challenging journey to a new normal.
Fox’s ordeal began in March 2020, just a few days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world.
She came down with a sore throat on Friday, and by Sunday she felt considerably worse. At urgent care that night, she tested positive for the flu. Fox had just gotten the flu vaccine in November.
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The physician’s assistant gave her Tamiflu and sent her home. The next day, Fox couldn’t get off the couch.
“I felt like I was dying,” she told Fox News Digital during a phone interview.
For Kristin Fox, a 42-year-old mother and high-school principal in Ohio, the flu led to the loss of her arms and legs — and the start of a long and challenging journey to a new normal. (Kristin Fox)
A nurse friend came over to take Fox’s blood pressure and oxygen levels, both of which were dangerously low.
Fox’s friend drove her to a small nearby hospital.
“Within 30 minutes, I was on a ventilator, and they said I probably wouldn’t make it,” Fox said.
She had developed bacterial pneumonia, which was leading to organ failure. Fox’s kidneys were shutting down and one of her lungs had collapsed.
What the medical team apparently didn’t realize, Fox said, was that she was already in septic shock, which is a life-threatening infection that causes organ failure and plummeting blood pressure.
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By Tuesday night, the hospital brought in a priest, expecting that Fox wouldn’t make it through the night — “but by the grace of God, I did,” she said.
By Thursday, doctors realized Fox was septic, she said. She was put into a medically induced coma and given vasopressor drugs in an attempt to save her vital organs.
Fox is pictured with her son, Landon, and her daughter, Laiken. (Kristin Fox)
“The doctors told my family they should prepare for the loss of some fingers or toes, because they were pulling so much from my extremities to try to keep my organs alive,” Fox said.
A couple of days later, the world shut down due to the pandemic — but because Fox was deemed the most critical patient in the hospital, they allowed her parents and husband to stay with her.
“It was touch and go for the next week,” Fox said.
Each year, at least 1.7 million adults in the U.S. develop sepsis, and nearly 270,000 die from the infection.
On March 26, the doctors told Fox’s husband and parents that they would have to amputate her legs the following day.
Fox’s mother begged the doctors to wait a few more days to see if she got better — but they said if they held off any longer, the infection would continue to rise above Fox’s knees, making her quality of life substantially worse, Fox related.
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The next day, Fox’s legs were amputated below her knees.
In the days after that first surgery, Fox’s arms got excessively worse, she said — “but they waited and didn’t take my arms until April 6, almost two weeks later.”
Fox considers it “lucky” that her arms were amputated just below the elbow, so she still has that range of motion — although it’s still very short compared to amputees who only lose their hands.
Within 72 hours, Fox was able to breathe without a ventilator and was transferred out of the ICU and into a “step-up room.”
After the surgeries, Fox was slowly brought out of her coma. “I was so confused,” she said. “I was still on a ventilator. I had no idea what was going on in the world (with COVID).”
Even so, within 72 hours, Fox was able to breathe without a ventilator and was transferred out of the ICU and into a “step-up room.”
A few weeks later, on May 17, she left the hospital.
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“They literally wrapped me like a mummy because I didn’t want my kids to see — I hadn’t told them yet about losing my arms and legs,” she recalled.
Fox (second from left) is pictured with her lifelong best friends. (Kristin Fox)
Eventually, Fox told her son and daughter — who were 9 and 6 at the time — what had happened.
“Between that and COVID, it was so much for little kids to wrap their minds around.”
The next stop was the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Rehabilitation Institute to start physical therapy.
“I knew it was the best place to go,” Fox said. “I had to go somewhere that was going to really kick my butt in therapy.”
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In Pittsburgh, Fox completed six weeks of intense physical therapy, three hours per day.
Along the way, there were some setbacks — back at home, her lung collapsed again, and doctors had to put in a chest tube. Then she returned to Pittsburgh for six more weeks of therapy.
In October 2020, seven months after her ordeal began, Fox received prosthetics for her arms and legs, marking the beginning of a brand new journey.
“It was a huge learning curve,” she told Fox News Digital. “It was like trial and error of what worked and what didn’t.”
Last fall, Fox connected with an organization called 50 Legs in Orlando, Florida, which selects amputees who will receive custom prosthetics tailored to each patient’s body. After applying, she was selected and made the trip to get fitted for new, custom-made prosthetics — for free.
Fox is pictured with her family at her first annual softball tournament, which helped to raise funds for her care. (Kristin Fox)
“It has been life-changing, because they are truly built for me and not just a size that everybody wears,” she said. “Anytime I need something, they ship it to me, or they put me on a plane to come down for a quick fix.”
She added, “They’re just the most incredible people I have ever encountered.”
These days, Fox uses only the prosthetic legs.
“I don’t use the arms at all,” she said. “I’ve learned to live without them — it’s easier. I even drive without them.”
Embracing a ‘new normal’
As a quadruple amputee, Fox faces new challenges in navigating the world, everything from working out to going to football games.
“There are just different things I never thought about before, in terms of accessibility and compliance,” she said. “The people who make the legislation don’t sit in the seat very often.”
Fox is pictured with her husband and children. She said her family motivated her to keep moving forward. (Kristin Fox)
After a year away from work, Fox was ready to return to her job as assistant principal at Campbell High School.
“I mentally had to go back to work,” she said. “I’m a very ‘go, go, go’ type of person. And if I went out on disability, I was not going to have a good quality of life.”
Fox said her children and her students at school also motivated her to keep moving forward.
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“I had a lot of young eyes watching me, and I knew there were so many kids who would learn so much from my reaction to this,” she said.
“It’s taught them about respecting differences and treating everyone fairly, regardless of their ability,” Fox noted. “And it’s taught them how they should overcome their own barriers and tough moments.”
One of Fox’s favorite mantras, she said, is “I’ve never had a tough day — I have tough moments.”
She noted, “As an educator, I didn’t want my students to think I took the easy way out.”
“Sometimes I catch myself complaining, but then I remind myself that my kids could have been mourning my death.”
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