Mother who fell ill with flesh-eating bacteria ready to return home

A Valley mother who nearly died after being diagnosed with a flesh-eating bacteria is now preparing to leave the hospital, and continue healing at home.

FOX 10 Phoenix first reported on Christin Lipinski's battle in January. Now, Lipinski is talking about her harrowing ordeal, for the first time.

"In a couple of weeks I'm coming home. I definitely had up and down days, lots of waiting," said Lipinski, who was sedated for nearly a month.

"Waking up and being told by my family that they almost lost me was very scary to hear," said Lipinski.

Lipinski's husband, Nathan, explained to her what she had.

"I've heard of the flesh-eating bacteria. When I was told I had it, I honestly didn't believe it," said Lipinski.

Doctor Kevin Foster from Maricopa Integrated Health System says after the infection was under control, they started on the reconstruction process under her arm. In Lipinski's case, the doctor used a skin spray called "Recell". It would be the first time the spray is used to treat this rare disease in the United States.

"What we do is take a small piece of skin from the patient, and we put it in an enzyme, and it separates the cells into individual cells, and then we make a spray out of that, and we spray it over the wound," said Dr. Foster.

Lipinski is still recovering, and is hopeful get back home to her family in a couple of weeks.

"What I can do to for her to get her back to the wife that I love," said Nathan. "Get her back in her routine, get her to be with the kids and make her as comfortable as possible."