Mother killed by flesh-eating bacteria two weeks after cutting her leg at beach

A mother died a horrific death after developing flesh-eating bacteria from a tiny cut she got on her leg at the beach.

Carol Fleming, 77, died of two strokes and kidney failure a fortnight after losing her footing at Coquina Beach in St Petersburg, Florida, on June 14.

Carol, known to family as Lynn, fell into a dip, and suffered a cut on her left leg just three quarters of an inch long.

She did not experience any symptoms for the rest of that day, or the next morning, according to daughter-in-law Traci Fleming, who was visiting Florida with Lynn’s son Wade at the time.

But by the following afternoon, Lynn told Traci that she was in pain.

Her legs had swollen up by Sunday, forcing her to go to urgent care, NBC News reported.

There, doctors gave Lynn an antibiotic, but the next day Lynn’s left shin had turned black, and she passed out.

Traci, who lives in Lynn’s old home city of Pittsburgh, said: ‘Her friends found her pretty much unconscious and on her bedroom floor.

‘They called an ambulance.’

Lynn was hospitalized with necrotizing fasciitis – the scientific name for flesh-eating bacteria, on June 16.

She underwent surgery to remove her toes and some of the tissue in her leg to try and cut the infection away.

But Lynn’s injuries were too severe to recover from, and she died on June 28.

Her son Wade was holding her hand as she slipped away.

Traci is now speaking out about her mother-in-law’s horrific death in a bid to warn others of the dangers of necrotizing fasciitis.

The Centers for Disease Control says anyone who injures themselves and suspects they may be at risk should seek out treatment, including a course of antibiotics, as soon as possible.