'Her leg or her life': Healthy mum loses leg after flu turns deadly

The husband of a North Waikato mum-of-three faced the heartbreaking choice of “her leg or her life” after the healthy 36-year-old suffered life-threatening complications from the flu. 

Victoria McHardy is recovering after her influenza A infection in late June turned to pneumonia and then sepsis, causing blood clots that led to amputation of her left leg above the knee. 

She’d had flu before but “nothing like this”, with her fever spiking at 41.8C, McHardy told the Herald from her Middlemore Hospital bed. 

“It’s the sickest I’ve ever been … [and] it happened so fast.” 

The Mangatāwhiri stay-at-home mum is among those caught up in New Zealand’s worst flu outbreak in a decade, with flu-related hospitalisations reaching a 10-year high in Auckland and national infection rates climbing to a four-year high. 

She’d had the flu for about a week – with a gastro bug on top – when she went to A&E in Pukekohe on the night of Sunday, July 5. 

She was given fluids and sent home with anti-nausea medication, and felt like she was improving the next day, before her condition worsened. 

“On Tuesday night my back was hurting really bad and then Wednesday morning I was so sick I couldn’t walk.” 

She was taken back to A&E, and an ambulance was called immediately, McHardy said. 

“I remember the ambulance ride and arriving [at Middlemore Hospital], then it’s all a blank until I woke from the coma. 

“My leg was amputated while I was in a coma so I didn’t know until I woke up.” 

Victoria McHardy spent more than two weeks in intensive care at Middlemore Hospital after complications from influenza A nearly took her life. 

Family were told she was the “sickest person in Middlemore” after she arrived at the hospital with a temperature of 40.6C. 

With her organs shutting down, she was put in an induced coma and taken to an isolation room. 

“My husband said it was because they didn’t know if I was going to make it or not.” 

While McHardy was in her week-long induced coma, her husband Cory was told his wife’s leg needed to be amputated because of life-threatening blood clots. 

“[Cory was told] it was either ‘her leg or her life’ … my husband rang my dad and they made the call together. Unfortunately they couldn’t get me into surgery as fast as they wanted as they were still trying to stabilise me. 

“My dad recalls the surgeon saying to the doctor, ‘Can you save her lungs because if not there’s no point in me taking her leg’, so it was quite dire.” 

Victoria McHardy had her left leg amputated above the knee after her influenza A infection turned to pneumonia then sepsis last month. She's pictured with her husband Cory McHardy and their children, from left, Ryan, 8, Maia, 10, and Emily, 12, on the kids' first visit to see their mum after she got sick. 

Delirious after waking from her coma, she thought she was dreaming when her husband said her leg had been amputated. 

“But my second thought was, ‘I’ll be the best prosthetic mum there is’ and ‘There’s no point in having two legs if I don’t have my life’.” 

Seven weeks on, her leg is healing well and her organs are “nearly all back to normal, just my liver may take a while to fully come back”. 

She’s also working with a physio and occupational therapist, and may be home in a couple of weeks if “they can get me up and moving”. 

“The doctors, nurses, physios, HCAs (healthcare assistants), my occupational therapist and psychologist have been amazing … I’ve been offered so much support and really been advocated for.” 

She can't wait to get out of hospital and home to her kids, says Victoria McHardy, pictured on a family trip to the US with her husband Cory and their children, from left, Ryan, Emily and Maia. 

The stay-at-home mum and payroll specialist for her and her husband’s Crown Exteriors Limited business can’t wait to get back home to son Ryan, 8, and daughters Maia, 10, and Emily, 12. 

“I go on every school trip I can, and also take my girls to cheerleading practice and competitions, and watch my sons rugby and league games … basically my whole life revolves around my kids and I wouldn’t want it any other way.” 

McHardy had no health conditions and it’d been “hard to wrap my head around ‘just’ having the flu and next minute I’m critically ill and have lost my leg”. 

She didn’t get the flu vaccine. 

“But I would encourage anyone who feels at risk to get it.” 

She also urged those with concerning flu symptoms to “get seen early”. 

“I feel let down by the A&E who sent me home on Sunday, as it only took a couple of days for me to become critically ill … and push for answers, for testing, for anything to help.” 

Mother-of-two Chloe Dowling, 36, was hospitalised after a stint with influenza A led to her developing severe pneumonia and sepsis. Photo / Supplied 

She had a special message for the family of Alexandra mum-of-two Chloe Dowling, who is in an induced coma in Auckland Hospital after her influenza A also developed into pneumonia and sepsis. 

The 36-year-old was initially given just a 10% chance of survival but was showing the first signs her lungs may be beginning to recover, her cousin Breidi McStay said. 

Having support was everything, McHardy said. 

“And it’s hard but staying positive is so crucial to recovery – there will be hard days of course and a lot of emotions, but with the doctors and the right family support one day everything will feel okay again.” 

She was “so grateful” for the support from her family and community, McHardy said. 

Her sisters took in their kids so her husband could be at McHardy’s bedside the first two weeks, and a fellow Mangatāwhiri School mum set up a dinner delivery rota so the family hadn’t had to cook once. 

The family and community support for her husband and kids has been amazing, Victoria McHardy says. She's pictured with son Ryan, 8, while recovering in Middlemore Hospital from a life-threatening bout of the flu. 

Fellow mums from Cheer Dynamix had taken her daughters to training and competitions, and her sister took both girls to Wellington for a competition. 

“And people from [my husband’s] church (Crossroads) and his rugby club (Maramarua) have pitched in, teachers from the kids’ school, and friends and family have really rallied to keep Cory and the kids in routine as much as possible. 

“The support has been amazing and allowed me to focus on my recovery knowing that my family is being cared for.” 

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.