A woman in Florida on Tuesday recalled how she nearly died after contracting a flesh-eating disease while scalloping off the Gulf Coast.

Patty Born, from Santa Rosa County, Florida, told WEAR-TV that she’s thankful to be alive after contracting the flesh-eating infection in 2015 while catching scallops in the water.

“I mean to look at your leg. It looked like it was rotting off,” she said.

“It’s scary. I haven’t been back in the water.”

The woman said she was returning from a day at the beach when something went seriously wrong.

“As we headed home my leg started getting real hot and it just felt weird,” she said. “I couldn’t stop it, then I started feeling nauseated and hot.”

Hours later, she was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with sepsis and the rare infection necrotizing fasciitis.

Born is telling her story to emphasize the severity of the illness after recent incidences of people contracting the flesh-eating disease.

“They told my husband to call my family. They didn’t expect for me to make it, from what I’m told,” Born said of the incident.

The network said the Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County is investigating the case.