Miracle Mom

Three weeks after doctors gave her little chance of surviving the “flesh-eating bacteria,” Ana Maria Garcia left AM Medical Center on Tuesday and vowed to surprise her doctors again by completing her rehabilitation sooner than expected.

What started as a seemingly innocuous twisted ankle Feb. 8 turned into a raging infection that sent Garcia, 30, of Anaheim to the hospital within 48 hours. Doctors had to amputate both legs and a finger to save her life.

“This is pretty close to a miracle,” said Mary Ann Adams, the hospital’s infection control coordinator. “She has a long road ahead of her for rehabilitation. But she is such a strong lady, she’ll do fine.

“She is one patient who will never be forgotten. To see her smile after all she’s been through--it’s amazing. There were a lot of tears here today.”

Before a crowd of news reporters chronicling her release, Garcia thanked the hundreds of benefactors from Orange County and beyond who donated money, clothes, food, toys and even a car to her destitute family, who emigrated from Mexico seven years ago.

Bundled in a wheelchair and dressed in a satiny green nightgown, she nervously fingered a piece of paper while fielding questions. Her husband, Roberto Serrano, sat by her side while their three sons--Fidel, 8, Daniel, 6, and Roberto, 2--gazed at the cameras and played with Polaroid photos of their mom.

Through an interpreter, Garcia said she is not apprehensive about her future and is simply looking forward to getting home and being with her family again. She said she told her sons, “Please help me and behave, because it’s going to be different.”

Fidel said he realized that and promised to help. In the short run, though, he and his brothers are excited about an Anaheim fire station tour they are getting today.

An $500 trust fund that the Anaheim Firefighters Assn. started for the family has grown into thousands of dollars, and the firefighters are looking for a wheelchair-accessible home the family can move to when Garcia is released, said Richard Chavez, president of the association.

Before her release, Garcia faces four to six weeks of “hard, boring work ahead of her,” said Dr. Virginia E. Garrett of the Tustin Rehabilitation Hospital, where Garcia transferred. She will learn to walk with prosthetic legs, function around her home and do tasks she once took for granted, like dressing and bathing herself.

And Garrett said the staff will instruct the stoic Garcia to admit when she is hurting so they will know how her treatment is progressing.

“She doesn’t like to complain,” Garrett said. “I don’t want her to be a brave soldier. I want her to be a wife and mommy and get back to having a normal life.”

The bacteria that attacked her, streptococcal necrotizing fasciitis, are a rare but virulent form of the common microbe that causes strep throat.

“She’s just real lucky she got attention as quickly as she did,” Garrett said. “I can tell her God’s got more plans for her.”

Garcia said the hardest part of her ordeal was her fear that she might not be around to help her family. And Serrano said he is grateful that she will be returning to them soon.

“Thanks to God--she’s going to be in a wheelchair, but she’s coming home,” he said, beaming. “She’s a lady who is very strong.”

He said he is saddened that she lost her legs but is glad he and their sons did not lose her.

“I don’t see her size anymore,” Serrano said. “All I see is her heart.”

Donations for Garcia and her family may be sent to the Anaheim Area Credit Union, 2390 E. Orangewood Ave., No. 106, Anaheim, CA 92806. Information: (714) 978-0190.

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Steve Carney can be reached at (714) 966-7890 or at steve.carney@latimes.com