Dawn Dubsky, a Chicago nujrse who lost four limbs to malaria, tells her story at Aurora University on Tuesday, Apr 19, 2011.
" AURORA : A single mosquito bite is a small burden to most, but to Chicago resident Dawn Dubsky, one bite was enough to change her life forever.
On a 2008 trip to Ghana, Africa, a place she had always wanted to visit, Dubsky was bitten by a mosquito. Ten days later, after she arrived back in the United State feeling fatigued and rather ill, Dubsky suspected the worst.
The 35-year-old registered nurse had chosen not to take a malaria prophylactic medication which would prevent the contraction of the disease and, as a result, had been infected by the mosquito bite.
After checking herself into the emergency room, where she soon slipped out of consciousness, further complications arose. Septic shock, which occurred as a result of the malaria, had cut off circulation to her extremities, forcing doctors to amputate both of her legs and both of her arms.
Three years ago, on Easter Sunday, Dubsky awoke for the first time since entering the hospital and was given the devastating news — the former marathon runner, world traveler and adventurist would be wheelchair-bound forever.
“I was pretty depressed for a while,” Dubsky said last week at Aurora University, where she promoted her non-profit organization, America Against Malaria."
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