A mother was forced to have three of her limbs amputated when she developed a ‘silent killer’ disease after giving birth to twins.

Khedidja Teape, 29 and from south-east London, was overjoyed after giving birth to her twins Zakari and Zalaysia in April of last year.

Quickly after bringing her newborns home she began to have stomach pains, but claims her concerns were dismissed by doctors. After five days, her suffering was so intense she called an ambulance.

“I was experiencing stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhoea, shivering and not being able to eat, just generally not feeling myself. So by day five, it was like ‘I can’t do this anymore, I need some sort of medical attention’,” she told the BBC.

Her symptoms were caused by a strep A infection- a type of bacteria that can cause illnesses including strep throat, scarlet fever, and necrotising fasciitis (also known as flesh-eating disease).

In Khedidja’s case, the infection led to sepsis. The response to an infection affects 245,000 people in the UK every year, killing 48,000. The body’s immune system overreacts to an infection which can damage organs and tissues and lead to shock and organ failure.

Khedidja was put into an induced coma so that machines could perform the jobs of her failing organs. When she woke five months later, her limbs had turned black, and she was told she needed a procedure done “ASAP”.

“My heart rate was high, and blood pressure was very low. I waved my family goodbye and went off to theatre, the last words I remember saying to myself was ‘I got this’,” she said.

“My partner then began telling me how happy he was I was awake and that I had been sleeping for a whole week in an induced coma, he and my family were told to prepare for the worst.

“I thought it was a joke he was running and then family and friends started turning up in tears, saying ‘Don’t do that again, we thought were going to lose you’.”

In August 2023, Khedidja had both her legs, left hand, and the fingers of her right hand amputated. She now has fitted prosthetics and is able to walk independently as she looks after babies Zakari and Zalaysia.

Ms Teape admitted that adapting to her new reality has been “physically, emotionally and mentally demanding”.

She said: “Now, I can carry my twins in the crook of my right arm and lift them up too. My family are happy to have me home. My life may have been flipped upside down, but at least my babies, and my older kids, still have their mum.”