Beautician loses limbs to sepsis
Leaving her home in Ipoh, Ms Lin Ai Ling came to Singapore in 2016 to work as a beautician.
Life was fine – until last October.
The 37-year-old told Shin Min Daily News she had felt unwell and did not get better even after seeing the doctor.
"I thought I had food poisoning and the doctor prescribed medicine. During the second visit, the doctor saw that something was wrong with me and sent me to the hospital emergency room. Afterwards, I lost consciousness," she recalled.
"I watched my hands and feet turn black, become heavy, and could not be controlled. The doctor said the cells had died and the bacterial infection had caused sepsis, so amputation was necessary to save my life."
Her hands were amputated on Nov 29 and her legs, Dec 19.
Ms Lin used up all $300,000 in her savings for medical expenses and needs more than $15,000 for prosthetic legs and another $14,000 or so for prosthetic hands.
"Now that I have no income, I can only rely on my sister to take care of me," said Ms Lin, who is paying for the prosthetic limbs in installments and relies on her family members to help her with her daily basic needs.
Lions Prostheses Centre has also stepped forward to help Ms Lin with the cost. Its vice-chairman Chia Lai Soon said a functional prosthetic hand costs about $25,000 and it is recommended that one hand be made functional while the other remains a regular prosthetic hand.
Ms Lin is counting the days to receiving a functional prosthetic hand that will allow her to grip things as she hopes to rejoin the workforce.
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