The Family of a girl in Marbella that lost four limbs to Septicemia demands that the Spanish health System provide her with free artificial implants

It was almost two years ago that 20-year-old Sarah Almagro was admitted into hospital suffering severe pain caused by Septicemia, one of the world’s biggest killers next to cancer.

Four months later and after multiple operations, the young girl left the hospital after losing four of her limbs due to multi-organ failure. Her family was amazed at Sarah´s inner strength as she battled to cope with her new life as a paraplegic.

Fast forward to 2020 and Sarah, with the help of new German Technology, now has the ability to be almost self-sufficient after being implanted with the latest generation of prostheses.

However, this new technology does not come cheap, in fact, it cost over €200,000 but through raising awareness of Sarah`s condition the kind people of Marbella and surrounding areas raised enough money for the implants. There was even money raised by an Ex-Pat women’s walking football team!

Sarah’s family, however, do not want to stop there, their plan is to raise awareness of the fact that the Public Health Authority does not pay for such prostheses and there are plenty of young girls similar to Sarah that need them. Her father Ismael Almagro has said that the system in place for treating such conditions has not changed since 2006, making the technology 14 years old and well behind other EU states.

An example is that the state will allow €10,000 to buy artificial hands, which offer only very basic functionality and are in fact very heavy. The new ones Sarah has, for instance, cost €80,000 and come equipped with sensors that connect with muscles and nerves.

Her father also went to explain that the Health Service would only supply a state-of-the-art artificial implant to the dominant hand of a person should they lose both hands for example. He questioned this by asking if a woman lost both breasts to cancer would they only re-construct say the right breast or if a burn victim lost both ears would they only replace the one ear with a prosthesis?

He also drew attention to the fact of a lifespan of eight or nine years in the case of the upper limbs and three to five, in the case of the lower ones. After that time, you must acquire new ones.

“If public health does not finance her prostheses, throughout her life my daughter will need two and a half million euros to have an autonomous life,” says Ismael, who wonders if when Sarah is 45 years old she will have the same strength as when he suffered the disease at just 18.

Meanwhile, the young woman attends Law at the UMA and maintains the same attitude with which she surprised everyone since fate placed her in this condition

She uses social networks to show her progress, and is about to start Crossfit and also hopes to get on a surfboard again, what an inspiration to the world!