151 a newnan georgia woman is now on a long road to recovery after being told she had a 20 percent chance of survival from contracting flesheating bacteria that spread to her lungs and left her in excruciating pain her husband said kristie vessell 43 was diagnosed earlier in may with necrotizing fasciitis which kills tissue as it spreads according to select specialty hospital ceo matthew pearson vessell whose infection started in her leg is at select specialty hospital though she previously transferred from a partner hospital in may vessell was put into an induced coma at the previous hospital to relieve pain and help her breathe after emergency surgery the procedure was performed to see what was wrong with her leg because she could barely walk and her temperature skyrocketed to 106 degrees husband jack vessell said man loses leg to flesheating bacteria after wading in the gulf of mexico warm weather brings rare flesheating bacteria to florida beaches student with flesheating disease will lose fingers we waited until the last minute because we didnt know what was wrong vessell 46 told abc news doctors said they believe kristie vessell may have contracted the infection from a minor open sore on her leg her husband said we havent been on a vacation since new years this year we havent gone fishing or swimming so were not sure where she wouldve gotten it vessell said its been difficult to see her go from being able to walk and doing things fine to now being stuck in the hospital all day but she is doing well vessell said adding shes breathing on her own now and that she will soon receive physical and occupational therapy to help her walk again his wife will be staying at the hospital for the next few months until shes deemed fit enough to go home vessell said but even then doctors say it may be another year or two before shes fully back to normal he added