Mom's Long Covid Turns Out to Be Necrotising Disease of the Pancreas: 'Minutes Away from Death'

A U.K. mom of three thought she had Long Covid — until doctors discovered that she had a necrotising disease that forced her into a coma.

The long health journey for Sam Lewis, 38, began in 2021, when she started having chest pains while getting her children ready for school. She promptly went to the doctor, who told her it was a benign inflammation in the cartilage in her chest — but the pain came back in March 2022, she tells South West News Service, via The Daily Mail.

This time, her symptoms were “shrugged off' as Long Covid, she says — but later that month, the Bournemouth, England, mother of three returned to the doctor in incredible pain.

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The diagnosis was a gallstone in her bile duct, she says. But after she was hospitalized to treat it, doctors discovered that she’d developed a debilitating case of pancreatitis that “went from acute to necrotising overnight,” Lewis, a children's performer, says.

Necrotising pancreatitis is a “serious development,” the Cleveland Clinic says, as it occurs when part of the pancreas dies. It occurs in 20% cases of pancreatitis — an inflammation of the gland, which aids in the digestive process.

The illness caused Lewis to swell so much she says, “I looked like I was eight months pregnant. I couldn’t move my ankles.” The disease progressed swiftly, landing her in the intensive care unit, and “at one point I was minutes away from death,” Lewis shares.

“My family came in. It was heart-wrenching. I couldn’t breathe properly. It was just so scary,” says Lewis, who developed the potentially fatal infection sepsis while in the hospital. It was then that Lewis was placed in a medically induced coma, when doctors removed the dead tissue — which included half of her pancreas.

She spent a total of six months in the hospital; Following the life-saving surgery, Lewis had to relearn to walk, and says these days, she’s left with chronic pancreatitis, which is managed with a strict diet.

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“I used to love going out. Now I refrain from going anywhere in case I get a flare up,” she explains. “I can’t even have crisps, chocolate, fish and chips. I can’t have fast food or pop to the bakery.”

But, she says, “It’s something I have to live with,' said Lewis. “Pancreatitis is evil and it can take you.”

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