She has been a high school teacher for a long time and gets a cold about once a year. So it wasn’t a big deal when she got sick on a field trip with her kids. But after a few days, the flu-like symptoms got really scary. Poor Moody was tired and had a high fever. She was sick and having trouble breathing.
Healthy to Sepsis: A Shocking Turn
In the middle of the night, she finally told her husband she had to go to the hospital. This is the first time in Moody’s 51 years that she has ever been to the emergency room, she tells TODAY.com. “I was in great health and shape.” I ate well and worked out.” David, her husband, still remembers how shocked he was by what happened next. They told him she had Streptococcus bacteria-caused double pneumonia, which is an infection of both lungs. That caused sepsis, which is the body’s dangerous reaction to infection, and septic shock, which is a dangerous drop in blood pressure and the worst stage of sepsis, according to the Sepsis Alliance. “I looked up sepsis on Google.” I didn’t know. David Moody, 53, tells TODAY.com, “We’re pretty healthy.“
“Right away, I knew we were in a very bad situation. I was really scared. The ideal storm” The couple says that doctors don’t know if Sherri Moody got strep during the April 2023 field trip to an amusement park or if it was just plain luck. Infections people get at work, school, or home cause up to 87% of sepsis cases, according to the Sepsis Alliance. Sepsis can happen even if you only have a kidney stone.
People who knew David Moody remember that two days after she went to the emergency room, her kidneys and lungs started to shut down. This was a side effect of septic shock. The medicine made things worse. Before the accident, Sherri Moody was taking for her rheumatoid arthritis. The drug lowers the immune system, which can make it harder for a person to fight off infections, which makes the autoimmune disorder symptoms better. In her words, it’s “the perfect storm.” “It was like a category 5 hurricane coming in,” says David Moody. “She had nothing to fight about.” It’s like she went to war without any forces.

Life-Saving Measures Came at a Devastating Cost
For safety reasons, doctors put the teacher into a coma and gave her strong drugs in the ICU, such as vasopressors, which raise blood pressure when it drops too low, according to the Cleveland Clinic. However, when these medicines pushed blood to her critical organs, they hurt the circulation in her limbs. Her husband remembers that within days, her limbs began to change color. The husband of David Moody says, “I saw my wife’s feet and hands die.” “They were black and mummified.“
Dr. Smith told Sherri Moody that even though they were able to save her life, they would not be able to save her arms. He cried, but she remembers being calm. She had her legs cut off below the knees in June 2023 and her arms cut off below the elbows the next month. She went home in August after being in the hospital for four months and at a recovery center for one month. “I choose to be happy.” A lot of problems and follow-up surgeries have made it take longer for her to get replacements. Three days a week, a wound care nurse comes to the house, and you have to go to the doctor all the time.
The teacher gets around with an electric wheelchair for now. A band on her arm lets her put a fork in it so she can eat. She’s angry that she’s losing her freedom and can’t do easy things like baking, but she tries to keep a positive attitude. “I’m very mentally strong,” says Sherri Moody. “I pick to be happy.” That doesn’t mean I don’t have a meltdown and cry sometimes. It doesn’t last long for me.” “I love her so much. “There have been more problems for me,” David Moody says. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever been through.“
Facing a Challenging Surgery and Finding Strength in Community
The next step is a complicated surgery to fix the gangrene that has been bothering her kneecaps for a long time. Doctors will have to cut off her legs above the knees if it doesn’t work, which makes it less likely that she will be able to walk with replacements. Their community has come together to help the family with fundraisers and updates on a Facebook page just for Sherri Moody. The couple is finding comfort in each other and the support of their community. “Both of us talk about how lucky we are.” David Moody says, “We talk about the good things in our day and in our lives.” Sharie Moody says, “I’m a lot stronger than I ever thought I was.“
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