This Teen Dancer Thought That The Pain In Her Foot Was Most Likely A Broken Toe, But It Turned Out To Be A Flesh-Eating Bacteria

On March 14, seventeen-year-old Olivia Kiger-Camilo of West Virginia was airlifted to WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital in Morgantown.

The life-long dancer had first noticed some pain in her foot after a weekend of practices. But, she had no idea that the pain would turn into a near-fatal experience.

“As a dancer, as an athlete, you kind of just brush pain aside. I thought I maybe broke a toe,” Olivia said in an interview with WTRF.

But, within twenty-four hours, the teen’s condition drastically worsened. She spiked a dangerously high fever, her blood pressure plummeted into the forties, and her foot turned completely black and blue. And soon after admission to the ER, doctors realized she was septic.

Olivia was immediately rushed into emergency surgery, which resulted in a months-long recovery process.

It turns out the teen had contracted the extremely rare monomicrobial necrotizing fasciitis– a kind of flesh-eating bacteria.

Only a few thousand cases are reported in the U.S. each year, and it is very rare to see in healthy children.

Nonetheless, Olivia was forced to undergo numerous foot-cleaning surgeries to cut out the harmful bacteria. She also spent a lot of time in the ICU and on a ventilator, with her first hospital stay lasting nearly four weeks.

GoFundMe; pictured above is Olivia

Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.

Then, later in April, she returned to WVU for a skin graft before finally returning home at the beginning of May.

Since the unexpected diagnosis and her treatment at WVU, Olivia has thankfully been recovering well.

She is now going through physical therapy and continues to regain her strength every single day. Her medical team also revealed that Olivia will be able to dance again.

The teen has credited these milestones to her exceptional team of doctors at the hospital.

“I had a new family there to take care of me, and I never felt scared. I always knew that there was going to be someone there to help me– whether it was to make me laugh or hold my hand or to give me medicine,” Olivia explained.

However, the medical team at WVU recognized Olivia’s strength and determination throughout her diagnosis and treatment.

They have since named Olivia a “Miracle Child” and will be honoring her at the 16th WVU Medicine Children’s Gala on Saturday, August 6.

To learn more about the gala, you can visit the link here. Or, to learn more about Olivia and donate to her recovery efforts, you can visit her GoFundMe campaign linked here.

Over five hundred and twenty donors have already contributed fifty-two thousand dollars to the teen’s medical expenses.

If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe.

She Told Her Ex That It’s Not Her Problem That He Doesn’t Have Any Money Because His New Wife Could Easily Get A Job

The Eastern State Penitentiary In Philadelphia Is Known As The Most Haunted Place In America, And Here’s Everything You Need To Know About What Happened Inside The Walls

This Woman Booked An Airbnb In Bali That Turned Out To Be An Abandoned Building

She Knew Her Sister-In-Law Was Snooping On Her, So She Got Revenge Using A Life-Size Cutout Of Dwayne Johnson

This Study Confirmed That Imposter Syndrome Is Real And Can Be Detrimental To Mental Health

Ever Since She Got A Job At Hooters, Her Roommate Has Been Making Passive-Aggressive Remarks, So She Finally Told Her Off

Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing ... More about Katharina Buczek

More About: