'Body Parts': Here's how septic shock led to Victoria Mugo becoming a quadruple amputee
Loss of a body part or disfiguration can truly affect the way a person feels about their appearance and self-worth. But thankful, Anaplastologist Allison Vest is here to help people feel comfortable in their skin, even if it is silicone! Enter TLC's 'Body Parts', which focuses on prosthetic rehabilitation. As per the synopsis of the series, "Anaplastologist Allison Vest creates amazing, lifelike prosthetics for patients who have missing or deformed body parts. Taking on unique and extreme cases, Allison melds medicine and artistry to help her patients both functionally and psychologically."
If you love all of TLC's reality shows, then you might want to consider checking out '1000-lb Best Friends', '90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days', and 'Doubling Down with The Derricos'.
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Who is Victoria Mugo?
Back in January 2019, Victoria Mugo was a healthy 38-year-old woman and a mother. However, at the time, she suffered from pneumonia which led to septic shock. As reported by HCA Healthcare Today, she was rushed to the ER and hours later, went into septic shock. In order to save her life, she was put in a coma and on life support.
"You don't get any sicker than Victoria was," noted Carolyn Golas, Sepsis Coordinator at TMCA, while talking to CBS4 Denver. "By the time Victoria's condition had deteriorated to septic shock, her chances of survival were only around 20 per cent," she added. However, Golas also noted that the ECMO technology is what was able to help save Victoria's life.
"Our ECMO program allowed us to pump and oxygenate her blood outside of her body while allowing her lungs to heal," she said "This is much like when patients have open heart surgery and are on a bypass machine. Victoria was supported not only by ECMO but was also on continuous dialysis that took over the function for her kidneys that were no longer working." she added. Seeing that the focus was on getting blood to flow to her vital organs, the circulations to her extremities rapidly came to a halt. The tissue in her arms and legs died out, leading to a quadruple amputation.
However, Victoria is grateful that she is alive and well. "I am not sitting in a corner feeling sorry for myself because I don't have my arms or my legs, I'm walking now (on prosthetic legs)," she noted in the same article.
How does Vest help Mugo?
While Victoria has prosthetic legs, she visits Allison Vest to help her out with prothetic arms as her arms were amputated. Victoria explained her situation to Vest, "When I looked at my hands at the time, I just knew these weren't coming back," she said during her clinic appointment. But it looks like Vest helps her out with the right prosthetics, as Victoria notes that "it's better" than what she imagined and even stated that "they look so real!".
'Body Parts' premieres on TLC on Wednesday, April 6 at 10 pm ET/PT.