She was told she'd never walk again, but Jo Gilchrist has been making strides in her recovery

Paralyzed by an Infection from a Makeup Brush, Australian Woman Told She'll Never Walk Again

An Australian mother has been left partially paralyzed after borrowing a friend’s makeup brush.

Jo Gilchrist began feeling pain in her back in February, according to the Warwick Daily News. She soon lost all feeling in her lower body and legs and had to undergo emergency surgery.

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Doctors found that the partial paralysis was caused by a type of staph infection that is resistant to drugs, most likely contracted when Gilchrist, 27, borrowed a makeup brush from a friend, who had a staph infection on her face.

“It started as a dull ache and I thought it was my bad posture, but it got worse and worse and got to the point I had to call one of those doctors who come to you because I couldn’t get out of bed,” she told the newspaper. “I rate the pain worse than childbirth; I literally thought I was going to die.”

Although doctors originally said Gilchrist might never walk again, she has been making incredible strides with physical therapy and intensive treatment. Last week, she posted a video on her Facebook page of her standing up and taking a couple of steps.

“It’s been the hardest struggle I’ve ever faced,” she wrote. “I have fought with everything I have to lead to this.”

She is also separated from her son Tommy, 2, while she is treated at the Princess Alexandra Hospital Home for the next few months.

“I have pictures of him and his drawings all over the walls and I look at them every day,” she told the Daily News.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 30 percent of people carry the staph infection in their noses, with most of these cases not resulting in infection. However, those that do cause infection can be extremely serious and even fatal. For more information about staph, visit the CDC website.

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