Doctors search for cause of young woman's severe illness
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PORTLAND, Ore. - Doctors in Portland are trying to find the reason a Monmouth woman's life is in danger after she was recently admitted to the hospital with a mysterious illness.
In the last two weeks, Tabitha Schulke, 18, has lost her lower legs to amputation and was clinging to life. She first became ill on Thanksgiving, her aunt said. She is currently in critical condition.
Photos of Schulke, swollen, immobilized, discolored and breathing with a ventilator in a hospital bed, show a woman unrecognizable from the vibrant, attractive teenager seen in pictures taken before the onset of the illness.
Doctors said they think Schulke developed gangrene as a result of toxic shock caused by a staph infection, but what brought on the illness is still a mystery. The National Institute of Health said patients with toxic shock have a 50 percent chance of survival.
Lab tests will hopefully help determine what caused Schulke's illness.
Meanwhile, family members are devastated over what has happened to a young woman who was a Sunday school teacher and intent on helping others as a missionary.
"She's beautiful on the outside, but she's even more beautiful on the inside," Schulke's aunt, Katie Zimmerman, told KATU News.
Zimmerman said flu-like symptoms led to gangrene on Schulke's feet. "They looked like they were out in the snow, they were just getting black," Zimmerman said.
The gangrene spread, forcing surgeons to amputate Schulke's legs near each knee.
"When she came here, she was very close to death and she's come very far, so that makes us very hopeful for the future," Dr. Eric Chang with Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland said.
Zimmerman is confident Tabitha will recover.
"She's going to have such a testimony to what you can overcome with God," she said. "God will heal her and she's going to be there to tell everyone 'look what I went through and I still praise God.'"
Zimmerman said Schulke can still realize her goal of becoming a missionary, but for now, that's secondary to her family's goal of simply getting her out of the hospital and back home.
"Just her surviving, that's all that matters," Zimmerman said through tears. "Not Christmas, not anything, just... we want Tabi."
Besides Tabitha's serious illness, her family is also dealing with other challenges.
Her brother has an inoperable brain tumor and the family lives more than an hour away in Monmouth, making trips to the hospital time-consuming and expensive.
But they said they are getting donations and other assistance from fellow members of the Independence First Baptist Church.
There is a CaringBridge page for Tabitha and a ChipIn page where direct donations to the family can be made for her care.
Here is Tabi's CaringBridge website for updates on how she is doingÂ
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http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tabithaschulke
Wishing the Schulke family a Christmas miracle.
I too read the article, and am very familiar with staph infections and mrsa. My daughter in-law had mrsa so I do know something about hospital born infections.
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My point only was it sounded from the article was whatever she had was already in her system when she became ill over Thanksgiving before ever entering the hospital. As she did not have surgery til after the gangrene set in would seem unlikely the hospital was the cause. This is my opinion too and it does not make it wrong either. I was only stating what I thought had happened based on the information given in the article.
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All I said was "why do you think she got the infection from the hospital" when she was already ill when brought in? That's all I said....and it was just an opinion.
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I do hope he recovers as the family has more than enough on it's plate at this time.
Prayers to Tabi and her family. Right now, all that matters is Tabi getting better:)
Doesn't really matter how she got it..... Hope she pulls thru. Lots of hugs and prayers to her parents. They need lots since they are having to deal with both their son and daughter being in and out of the hospitals. Lets pray for miracles.
Sounds like she got the illness from the hospital...what started this???Â
 @Fennforests Why do you think she got the illness from the hospital?  If you read the story she was brought to the hospital very ill and went downhill fromthere.
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She sounds like a wonderful young woman with a lot to offer the world. Lets all wish her a speedy recovery so she can continue with her works.
I read the article, and expressed my opinion. Just because 'you' don't agree doesn't make it wrong. Please educate yourself. This kind of Staph is very serious and often comes from being exposed to it in a hospital. My dad got it at Sacred Heart in Eugene.
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http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/staph-infections/DS00973/DSECTION=symptoms
 @Fennforests Actually you can get a staph infection almost anywhere now days.Â
 @Fennforests Yes, she almost certainly contracted the staph in the hospital. She did not get the original, underlying illness from the hospital, however, since she was ill before going to the hospital. It's really not an issue of opinion.