Walsall woman left bed-bound after eating goats cheese in Greece
A young woman has been left bed-bound and wanting her life to end after she developed a severe infection from eating cheese on holiday.
Sam Philpott, aged 22, from Walsall, went on holiday with her parents to Kos, Greece, three years ago.
But after eating a selection of unpasteurised goats' cheese, she had unknowingly ingested a potentially fatal bacteria called brucellosis.
Just weeks after returning home, the former nursery assistant, started to suffer from debilitating migraines, constant vomiting and intense pain all over her body.
Her condition worsened within weeks as she lost the ability to walk and became reliant on a wheelchair.
Now she has been left with a list of extreme flu-like symptoms, as well as memory loss, insomnia and speech loss.
She believes it was the eating of the cheese that caused her to ingest the bacteria and develop her current condition.
Miss Philpott, who ate cheese on her pizzas, sandwiches and in her salads, said: "Who knew that unpasteurised cheese, that is delicious, could cause the mind-numbing and wanting-to-end-my-life type of pain that I have been suffering with.
"With each mouthful, to my unfortunate complete lack of knowledge and utter surprise, I was ingesting the bacteria that has led to my being bedridden.
"The bacteria has not only taken my ability to live a normal functioning life, but my bubbly spirit."
Brucellosis, virtually wiped out in the UK, originates from animals and can cause long-lasting flu-like symptoms.
Miss Philpott is now receiving intravenous therapy treatment for the condition – the infusion of antibiotics and vitamin supplements directly into the vein – in Florida.
And at the clinic, she had 32 blood vials taken on her first day as well as a CAT scan.
She is also being given medication for Lyme disease as well as brucellosis, as her symptoms fit both diseases.
But now her immune system has shut down and it is not known how she will respond to the treatment.
Her brother, Joe, aged 24, said: "At the clinic, they have said she is one of the worst patients they have seen, in terms of how far her illness has progressed over this course of time.
"Doctors believe that she more than likely contracted brucellosis the summer she was in Kos – so they think it is linked to eating cheese."
A gofundmepage to support Sam has already raised more than £23,000.
