A Kentucky woman unexpectedly learned she would lose her legs and arms in what she thought was a relatively routine episode of kidney stones, but she’s facing her predicament by focusing on what she still has.
“I’m just happy to be alive,” Lucinda “Cindy” Mullins, who raises two sons with her husband, recently told Kentucky news station WLEX. “I can see my kids. I can see my family. I can spend time with my husband.
“I’m just saying these are the cards I’ve been dealt and these are the cards I’m going to play. … These are small things right now.”
As she told WLEX, Mullins battled kidney stones in the weeks leading up to the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. She was treated, but the kidney stone later caused an infection, leading to sepsis.
After doctors treated Mullins, she was rushed to the hospital and sedated for several days. When she woke up from the sedative, she discovered that both of her legs had been amputated. Doctors told her she would eventually need life-saving amputation of all four limbs after the infection spread, leaving her suffering a “perfect storm” of rare and potentially fatal medical problems.
“I’ve lost both legs from the knees down, and I’m going to lose both arms from the elbows down,” Mullins told WLEX. She added that a doctor she had worked with told her: “This is what they have to do to save your life – this is what happens.”
The horrific news shattered Mullins’ life. her husband, DJ, with whom she had been together since she was 17; and their two sons, ages 12 and 7, she said. It also upended her career as a nurse, during which she worked at the same hospital for nearly two decades.
But as word spread, her tragic story received an outpouring of support from the community, including more than $100,000 in donations to prepare Mullins for rehabilitation, physical therapy and prosthetics.
“I think they told me there were 40 people in the waiting room at the hospital,” Mullins said. “The phone calls, the texts, the prayers, the things people sent, the little words of encouragement — I just couldn’t understand how people would do something like this for me.”
Mullins told WLEX that she decided to go public about her life-changing kidney stone incident in the hope of inspiring people to “slow down” in their lives.
“Appreciate the things around you, especially your family,” Mullins said. “It’s okay to let others take care of you.
“If one can see God in all of this, it’s all worth it.”
