Stephanie Heater Fought Her Way Back from Toxic Shock Syndrome

Instead of daydreaming the morning before her school’s big January dance, 17-year-old Stephanie Heater of Bethlehem was vomiting, sweating and fighting a fever of almost 104 degrees. Her mother, Michele, suspected the flu. Stephanie slept the rest of that day and most of the next, missing the Snowball Dance.

“I thought I’d eaten bad chicken or something,” Stephanie says—but she wasn’t getting better. When Michele asked her son, Troy, a trained emergency medical technician, to check his sister’s condition, he noted that blood didn’t seem to be flowing to her extremities. Michele and her husband, Dave, took Stephanie to a health center. The doctor sent her straight to the Lehigh Valley Hospital emergency department.

“Stephanie was in a state of shock—mental confusion, extremely low blood pressure and a racing heartbeat,” says emergency physician Sarah Finnerty, M.D. Having seen a similar case, Finnerty knew what to look for. Sure enough, Stephanie had just had her period and was a tampon user. Tests showed she had toxic shock syndrome (TSS), a rare infectious disease that resembles a bad case of the flu and worsens quickly.

In intensive care, Stephanie received a massive dose of antibiotics, and machines took over her vital functions. Specialists used the latest technology to monitor her around the clock. A camera mounted in the ICU—dubbed the “eye in the sky” by Michele Heater—fed high-resolution video to specially educated doctors called tele-intensivists located off-site. Using video, audio and electronic charting, they monitor critically ill patients like Stephanie, interacting closely with caregivers at the bedside and responding immediately to any concerns. “We were on top of her care every minute, day and night,” says tele-intensivist Matthew McCambridge, M.D. “This incredible technology helped save Stephanie’s life,” her mother says.

Over the next week, Stephanie’s condition improved and she was brought out of her medically induced coma. By the time she went home a few days later, she’d beaten the odds—just 50-50—and recovered fully. She and her mother are now spreading the word about toxic shock prevention.

A recent graduate of Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts, Stephanie dreams of becoming a performer and an advocacy lawyer.

ARTICLE TOOLS: