{"id":582836,"date":"2026-08-28T09:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/582836\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T09:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:30:25","slug":"influenza-a-mangatawhiri-mum-loses-leg-after-pneumonia-and-sepsis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/582836\/","title":{"rendered":"Influenza A: Mangat\u0101whiri mum loses leg after pneumonia and sepsis"},"content":{"rendered":"

She\u2019d had the flu<\/a> for about a week \u2013 with a gastro bug on top \u2013 when she went to A&E in Pukekohe on the night of Sunday, July 5.<\/p>\n

She was given fluids and sent home with anti-nausea medication, and felt like she was improving the next day, before her condition worsened.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Tuesday night my back was hurting really bad and then Wednesday morning I was so sick I couldn\u2019t walk.\u201d <\/p>\n

She was taken back to A&E, and an ambulance was called immediately, McHardy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the ambulance ride and arriving [at Middlemore Hospital], then it\u2019s all a blank until I woke from the coma. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy leg was amputated while I was in a coma so I didn\u2019t know until I woke up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"VictoriaVictoria McHardy spent more than two weeks in intensive care at Middlemore Hospital after complications from influenza A nearly took her life. <\/p>\n

Family were told she was the \u201csickest person in Middlemore\u201d after she arrived at the hospital with a temperature of 40.6C.<\/p>\n

With her organs shutting down, she was put in an induced coma and taken to an isolation room.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband said it was because they didn\u2019t know if I was going to make it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

While McHardy was in her week-long induced coma, her husband Cory was told his wife\u2019s leg needed to be amputated because of life-threatening blood clots.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Cory was told] it was either \u2018her leg or her life\u2019 \u2026 my husband rang my dad and they made the call together. Unfortunately they couldn\u2019t get me into surgery as fast as they wanted as they were still trying to stabilise me.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad recalls the surgeon saying to the doctor, \u2018Can you save her lungs because if not there\u2019s no point in me taking her leg\u2019, so it was quite dire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"VictoriaVictoria McHardy had her left leg amputated above the knee after her influenza A infection turned to pneumonia then sepsis last month. She’s pictured with her husband Cory McHardy and their children, from left, Ryan, 8, Maia, 10, and Emily, 12, on the kids’ first visit to see their mum after she got sick.<\/p>\n

Delirious after waking from her coma, she thought she was dreaming when her husband said her leg had been amputated.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my second thought was, \u2018I\u2019ll be the best prosthetic mum there is\u2019 and \u2018There\u2019s no point in having two legs if I don\u2019t have my life\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven weeks on, her leg is healing well and her organs are \u201cnearly all back to normal, just my liver may take a while to fully come back\u201d.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also working with a physio and occupational therapist, and may be home in a couple of weeks if \u201cthey can get me up and moving\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors, nurses, physios, HCAs (healthcare assistants), my occupational therapist and psychologist have been amazing \u2026 I\u2019ve been offered so much support and really been advocated for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SheShe can’t wait to get out of hospital and home to her kids, says Victoria McHardy, pictured on a family trip to the US with her husband Cory and their children, from left, Ryan, Emily and Maia. <\/p>\n

The stay-at-home mum and payroll specialist for her and her husband\u2019s Crown Exteriors Limited business can\u2019t wait to get back home to son Ryan, 8, and daughters Maia, 10, and Emily, 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go on every school trip I can, and also take my girls to cheerleading practice and competitions, and watch my sons rugby and league games \u2026 basically my whole life revolves around my kids and I wouldn\u2019t want it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

McHardy had no health conditions and it\u2019d been \u201chard to wrap my head around \u2018just\u2019 having the flu and next minute I\u2019m critically ill and have lost my leg\u201d. <\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t get the flu vaccine.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I would encourage anyone who feels at risk to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also urged those with concerning flu symptoms to \u201cget seen early\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel let down by the A&E who sent me home on Sunday, as it only took a couple of days for me to become critically ill \u2026 and push for answers, for testing, for anything to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mother-of-twoMother-of-two Chloe Dowling, 36, was hospitalised after a stint with influenza A led to her developing severe pneumonia and sepsis. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

She had a special message for the family of Alexandra mum-of-two Chloe Dowling<\/a>, who is in an induced coma in Auckland Hospital after her influenza A also developed into pneumonia and sepsis.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old was initially given just a 10% chance of survival but was showing the first signs her lungs may be beginning to recover, her cousin Breidi McStay said.<\/p>\n

Having support was everything, McHardy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s hard but staying positive is so crucial to recovery \u2013 there will be hard days of course and a lot of emotions, but with the doctors and the right family support one day everything will feel okay again.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was \u201cso grateful\u201d for the support from her family and community, McHardy said.<\/p>\n

Her sisters took in their kids so her husband could be at McHardy\u2019s bedside the first two weeks, and a fellow Mangat\u0101whiri School mum set up a dinner delivery rota so the family hadn\u2019t had to cook once.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe family and community support for her husband and kids has been amazing, Victoria McHardy says. She’s pictured with son Ryan, 8, while recovering in Middlemore Hospital from a life-threatening bout of the flu.<\/p>\n

Fellow mums from Cheer Dynamix had taken her daughters to training and competitions, and her sister took both girls to Wellington for a competition. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd people from [my husband\u2019s] church (Crossroads) and his rugby club (Maramarua) have pitched in, teachers from the kids\u2019 school, and friends and family have really rallied to keep Cory and the kids in routine as much as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe support has been amazing and allowed me to focus on my recovery knowing that my family is being cared for.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She\u2019d had the flu for about a week \u2013 with a gastro bug on top \u2013 when she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[238739,13790,74,95,6745,49202,3052,1379,71,134,5110,6099,1364,10109,13347,26981,424,21737,11517,76062,2721,286939,111,139,529,69,43662,33141,31145,1524],"class_list":["post-582836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-36yearold","tag-a","tag-after","tag-and","tag-choice","tag-complications","tag-faced","tag-flu","tag-from","tag-health","tag-healthy","tag-heartbreaking","tag-her","tag-husband","tag-influenza","tag-leg","tag-life","tag-lifethreatening","tag-loses","tag-mangatwhiri","tag-mum","tag-mumofthree","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-nz","tag-pneumonia","tag-sepsis","tag-suffered","tag-waikato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}