By Steve Kraske, Brian Ellison, Elizabeth Ruiz and Zach Wilson
When Brie Morgan Bauer, a nurse, went to urgent care in mid-February for what felt like flu-like symptoms, the Overland Park mother of two had no idea her unborn baby was in distress and that her own health was rapidly declining.
Experiencing contractions, Morgan Bauer was admitted to the hospital where she would undergo an emergency cesarean section, delivering her baby at 27 weeks.
“My last memory was them putting the mask on for the emergency C-section,” Morgan Bauer told KCUR’s Up To Date. “And then 10 days later, I woke up in the hospital.”
But after delivering her baby boy, Beau, doctors had trouble stabilizing Morgan Bauer.
“[Doctors] were very honest, and said it was maybe a 10% chance that she lived through the night,” Reid Bauer, Morgan Bauer’s husband, said.
Morgan Bauer was suffering from streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS), a rare and often fatal infection that occurs when invasive group A strep bacteria enters sterile areas of the body.
“This is an extremely severe infection, and when it escalates, it escalates extremely quickly,” said Dr. Chase Hall, a University of Kansas Health System pulmonologist who treated Morgan Bauer.
Without quick and appropriate care, a person can die from STSS less than 24 hours after symptoms begin, Hall says.
Morgan Bauer and Beau both survived the night, but Morgan Bauer went on to require multiple life-saving surgeries. She spent 10 days in a coma.
Once awake, not only did she continue to face health challenges, she faced new difficulties as a mother.
The infection and lack of blood and oxygen caused Morgan Bauer’s extremities to die, leaving her unable to hold her newborn.
“That was the worst part of it, and it still is,” she said. “So there’s still this disconnect as a mom and what I think I should do, or should be able to do, and I just can’t. So it’s, you know, finding a different definition of how to be a mom.”
Both arms and her left leg needed to be partially amputated, along with a total amputation of her right leg.
“I do remember laying in the post-op just being like, ‘I’m just getting cut apart. I’m less and less of a person,’” Morgan Bauer said.
Over the last few months, Morgan Bauer’s Instagram page has captured the good and bad days of her and Beau throughout their extended stay in the hospital, and then as they adapt to their new reality in their Overland Park home.
With more than 400,000 followers, Morgan Bauer said she wants to share her story so others who face similar experiences don’t feel alone. Their Instagram has also become a space where others have shared their experience with STSS and amputees share helpful tips.
Though her husband initially objected to sharing such personal details of their lives online, he now finds hope through the online community with experiences similar to their own.
“You get online, and you see people that are thriving, you know, despite everything, and it gives you a lot of hope and gives you optimism,” Bauer said. “Now they’re living more normal lives. And I think, ‘OK, well, then we can do that too.'”
Morgan Bauer hopes her many followers take away the importance of self-advocacy from her story.
“Advocate for yourself, no matter what,” Morgan Bauer said. “I know a lot of people might be intimidated by doctors — still ask or still question what their plan is, because you never know, you could be right and could save yourself in so many ways.”
Despite the near-death experience and her continued mental and physical challenges, she’s thankful to be able to watch her three boys grow.
“Regardless of how I look or how I feel, doctor’s appointments, all of that stuff… I come back to the fact that I’m alive,” Morgan Bauer said.
This story was originally published on KCUR. Listen to the full KCUR Up to Date episode here.
