Dancer lost arms and legs after getting bitten by ‘deadly’ mosquito on holiday
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A woman woke up with no arms and no legs after returning from a holiday.
Tatiana Timon, from Camberwell in South London, said she is "grateful to be alive" following a horrific ordeal.
The former dancer and restaurant worker became a quadruple amputee after a dance holiday of a lifetime ended horribly – all due to a nasty mosquito bite.
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In May 2022, Tatiana joined a group dance trip to Angola, to take her Key Zumba to the next level in the country where it originated.
She told MyLondon that she had the most "amazing" 10 days pursuing her passion in the south African country but on her return home her life turned upside down.
While abroad she had been bitten by a mosquito and contracted the "deadliest" form of Malaria.
Tatiana said she was "clueless" as she admitted she hadn't followed her GP's advice to take antimalarials.
It wasn't until a few days after she flew back to London that things began to escalate incredibly quickly and within days she had become so weak and feverish that she couldn't make it to the bathroom by herself.
Tatiana's friend called an ambulance and she was rushed to hospital, where tests confirmed it was a deadly form of Malaria causing her symptoms.
The illness rapidly worsened before turning into sepsis (blood poisoning) and within hours Tatiana was put in an induced coma.
To prevent the sepsis spreading to her vital organs, doctors had to amputate all four of her limbs.
She told MyLondon: "All of my friends and my family were worried because the doctor was telling them that I was going to die, like I was about to die three times."
Tatiana said her work even paid for her father to fly to London from Réunion Island to "say goodbye".
She said: "When I woke up from the coma I knew, I saw that I was in hospital, and I knew something happened to me. But at that time I didn't know how bad it was, like I just knew something had happened."
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The dancer said at first when the nurses offered to help her with tasks, like holding her phone so she could call people, she'd say "I can do it myself… I can hold the phone, it's fine, just do your job".
It took a while before her situation really sunk in.
She said: "It's really hard to explain. I knew my body was there but I just couldn't move it.
"It was like, when you're in your bed and you don't want to move."
Tatiana is still learning to do basic daily tasks, like use the washing machine and cook for herself – but she is determined to become 100% independent.
She said: "I've always been positive, I'll make a joke about anything.
"A negative thing I can turn into a positive thing to make my life easier, because I don't like stress."
Shrugging, she added: "It happened, so I need to deal with it."
Tatiana's friends have set up a GoFundMe to help her buy hi-tech prosthetics – you can donate to it here.
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