COLCHESTER-A new mother has said she hopes to raise awareness of a flesh-eating disease that nearly killed her. Charleigh Chatterton, 27, gave birth to her daughter Alessia in Colchester on 22 April with no complications. But six days later she was rushed back to hospital after developing a rash on her stomach.  Doctors diagnosed the finance administrator with necrotising fasciitis and warned her family she might not survive. “The doctors said my chances of survival were slim. I think I got diagnosed just in time,” she said. Miss Chatterton, from Harwich, Essex, had a rash that was “as hot to touch as a boiled kettle” and severe flu symptoms.  Her fiance Liam Boyne called midwives at Colchester hospital who recommended she go in to be checked.  

Doctors carried out multiple tests which came back clear but her condition was rapidly declining and she was struggling to remain conscious.
After a scan revealed pockets of gas underneath her tissue, they realised it could be necrotising fasciitis. Doctors said she needed immediate surgery to remove a large amount of dead tissue to stop the flesh-eating bacteria from spreading. Miss Chatterton was kept sedated for three days and woke up to two large wounds on her stomach, which had to left open for six days to help her body recover until they were able to fit a vacuum pump.