Makeup Brush Tainted With Staph Leaves Woman Confined To A Wheelchair For Life

One woman will never be the same after borrowing a friend’s makeup brush. The seemingly harmless brush triggered a series of events that led to the young mother’s battle for her life. A staph infection invaded her body from the makeup brush and targeted her spine. The 27-year-old mother will now be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life due to one makeup application that went incredibly wrong.

The Daily Mail reports that Jo Gilchrist had frequently borrowed makeup brushes from her friends. Therefore, on Valentine’s Day as she applied makeup from a friend’s brush, she never thought it would trigger a battle for her very life. Gilchrist says that she had a small pimple on her face that she used the brush to cover. However, what she didn’t know was that the makeup brush she borrowed from her friend was tainted with staph bacteria. The bacteria likely entered through her pimple and coursed through her body. Eventually the deadly bacteria attacked her spine and resulted in aches and pains across her body.

Gilchrist says it began with small aches in her back. However, it quickly progressed to the point that she began feeling numb and lost the feeling in her legs.

“It started as a little ache in my back and I thought it was my bad posture, but it kept getting worse and worse. I was in incredible pain and nothing would work. I honestly thought I was going to die – the pain was worse than childbirth. They said (the numbness) would go all the way up my arms and into my chest and when that happened I’d have to be put in an induced coma and learn to breathe again.”

The makeup application that seemed so ordinary had allowed the staph infection to invade her body and was spreading quickly. Gilchrist was taken by air for emergency surgery her hometown of Warwick to Brisbane, both in Australia. After Gilchrist woke up from her surgery the doctors told her she had “contracted community-associated MRSA – an antibiotic-resistant form of golden staph.”

The only culprit found in the MRSA case was the borrowed makeup brush and says her friend feels horrible about the whole ordeal.

“My friend did have a staph infection on her face and I was using her brush just before. I had no idea that could even happen, I used to share with my friends all the time. My best friend feels horrible, but it’s not her fault at all. I just had a low immune system and it was the perfect breeding ground for the bacteria.”

The Warwick Daily News says that doctors have a grim prognosis. The young mother is not expected to walk again and will likely be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She says she has no control of her bowels or bladder and has lost her sexual functions all because of a makeup brush.

Did you know that makeup brushes can carry staph bacteria?

[Image Credit: Facebook/ Jo Gilchrist]