Mother, 35, went to bed on New Year's Eve with bad flu... then woke up days later to find all four of her limbs had been amputated
Cassandra Marshall, a mother of four from North Carolina, went into septic shock after contracting the flu and needed a quadruple amputation to save her life.
Published: 16:32 GMT, 2 January 2026 | Updated: 16:33 GMT, 2 January 2026
A mother-of-four dismissed a New Year's Day sniffle as a flu - but was horrified to wake up in hospital days later missing all four of her limbs.
Cassandra Marshall, 35, came down with the flu at the end of 2023, which quickly escalated to a case of septic shock.
Septic shock is the last step of sepsis and occurs when the immune system overreacts to an infection, causing organ failure and dangerously low blood pressure.
Marshall's husband called 911 when she woke up unable to breathe. She was airlifted to a hospital in North Carolina and was resuscitated twice before she was put on life support.
She later learned that the shock was a result of strep and the flu, Marshall told local Fox affiliate, WGHP.
Marshall was put on an ECMO machine, which helped her regain respiratory function, but she lost blood supply in all four limbs and required a quadruple amputation.
The mother's health took a drastic turn for the worse when doctors were forced to amputate.
Marshall recalled in an interview with WGHP last year that her legs went first, and she suffered a major medical emergency before doctors could amputate her arms.
Cassandra Marshall, pictured in a North Carolina hospital in January 2024, was placed on life support after a strep and flu infection turned into septic shock
Marshall, pictured with family after a quadruple amputation, said she coded during her operation, and the amputations had saved her life
Marshall is adapting to her new life as a quadruple amputee and hopes to afford robotic arms and legs, as she has pictured above. She has one prosthetic arm and is raising money for a second one so she can care for her children independently and drive
A few days later, she was strong enough for surgery, and both of her lower arms were removed.