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SUSAN SZTYBEL HAD OPENED HER KITCHEN CUPBOARD TO GRAB TWO WINE GLASSES FOR HER AND HER PARTNER WHEN ONE FELL OUT AND SMASHED ON THE FLOOR 06:00, 29 May 2025 A gran admits she thought nothing
of a tiny cut from a smashed wine glass… until she developed a "flesh-eating bug" that "ravaged" her foot. Susan Sztybel had opened her kitchen cupboard to grab two wine
glasses for her and her partner David Farmer, 69, when one fell out and smashed on the floor. The 67-year-old told how a shard of glass caught her right foot leaving a small one-inch cut in
her skin on March 28. The mum-of-three put plasters over the scratch, and went to bed, thinking nothing more of it. But 24 hours later, Susan says she began to feel feverish as her cut
began to bleed and ooze pus so she went to Alexandra Hospital in Redditch to have it checked out. The carer was then transferred to a specialist team at Worcester Royal Hospital to be
treated for sepsis, strep A, and cellulitis - which developed into a flesh-eating bacteria. By this point, Susan claims the infection had crept up her right leg into her groin and was told
by doctors her chance of survival was low. She then underwent debridement surgeries to scrape as much of the 'flesh-eating bug' out of her foot and was then put on a vac machine to
suck the infection out of her skin. Due to the medication and the severity of her illness, the support worker claims she saw the 'pearly gates' in hospital and feared she would
die. Thankfully, doctors were able to save her life and foot and after more than a month in hospital, she is recovering at her partner's house. Susan is now keen to raise awareness
about what happened to her to show how one small cut from a piece of glass almost cost her her life. Susan, from Stourport-on-Severn in Worcestershire, told how the accident happened on a
Friday night as she and her partner were ready to relax at the start of the weekend. She said: "I got home and I opened the cupboard and this glass fell out and smashed. I was just
going to have a glass of wine with my partner to celebrate the weekend coming in. "It was a wine glass that smashed. My partner cleaned up the glass and I wiped my one-inch cut on my
foot [from the glass] and put a plaster on it and thought no more of it. [On Saturday], I carried on with my shift at work as a living carer. I knew I had done something to my ankle at this
point as it was a bit sore. "24 hours later I felt a little bit sick and hot and then within a couple of hours I was feeling sick and was sweating and felt really poorly. I didn't
realise the seriousness at this point. I thought I just had a bug and I never imagined it was to do with my cut. "Someone took over my shift and at this point I was feeling very faint
and my cut was oozing. It was oozing and there was lots of clear blood and puss. Article continues below "My foot felt like it was pulsating. Within 48 hours the infection had crept up
my leg into my groin and this is when they said doctors would have to operate and they didn't know if I was going to survive."All I kept saying was please save me. I didn't
care if I lost my leg. They say you see the pearly gates. In the next few days, I saw those pearly gates. I was hallucinating. "It was a flesh-eating bug which was ravaging through my
skin and leg and I was fighting to keep alive. I had to lay down with my leg higher than my heart for 23 hours a day and was only allowed to sit up to eat."After more than a month in
hospital, Susan was transferred to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where she underwent plastic surgery on her foot on May 5th. While she has been told her foot may never look the same
again, doctors have said she will not suffer any long-term effects from the infection.Susan said: "In the early days, I was told by a doctor that they couldn't believe I had
survived so far as my infection marker was so high and I was very poorly. Your infection marker should be at five and mine was 500 and you shouldn't survive with this."I kept
praying and hoping and I'm here to tell the tale. I defeated the odds. They kept digging away at my ankle and had taken so much out I needed plastic surgery. They took skin from my
thigh which is the donor site and put this on my ankle."The grandma-of-eight is now urging people to get their cuts checked out straight away if they believe them to be infected. Susan
said: "A tiny, little one-inch cut that was clear and only needed a plaster on it turned into something so massive. "If this saves other people going through what I've gone
through and saves their limbs and their lives, it's worth it. I would tell people to act straight away [if they are concerned about a cut]. I didn't because I didn't think it
was anything to worry about at first."