Caroline Fonjock underwent emergency surgery after a boil on her leg turned out to be necrotizing fasciitis<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The rare flesh-eating disease can kill soft tissue quickly and is fatal in about 1 in 5 cases<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Fonjock hopes sharing her story will help others recognize the deadly condition earlier<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A mom was left vomiting “black tar” and needing emergency surgery after a boil on her leg turned out to be an aggressive case of necrotizing fasciitis<\/a> \u2014 commonly called the flesh-eating disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n Social worker Caroline Fonjock, 45, first noticed a lesion at the top of her inner thigh in April 2021, but dismissed it as a boil<\/a>, nothing more, according to a report from Cambridge University Hospitals.<\/a> But within 36 hours, the mom of two was vomiting “black tar,” she told BBC<\/a>, as the boil turned into a “hardened tube” and spread down her leg.<\/p>\n Fonjock was rushed to the hospital, where she says she was told she needed emergency surgery, multiple skin grafts, and could end up spending a year in the hospital, due to the aggressive case of necrotizing fasciitis.<\/p>\n Caroline Fonjack with her husband, Lionel (right) and two daughters The mom from the English town of Haverhill said doctors told her, “If you don’t do this, you’ll be dead by morning.”<\/p>\n Necrotizing fasciitis is a rare bacterial infection that can be deadly in about 1 in 5 patients, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control<\/a>. It’s dubbed the “flesh-eating disease” because it quickly kills the body’s soft tissue found around muscles, nerves, fat, and blood vessels, and it can turn lethal in a short period of time. Immediate medical attention and often surgery to remove the affected tissue is crucial for survival.<\/p>\n Her husband, Lionel, told the BBC that he had never heard of\u00a0the disease \u2014 and now had to tell their daughters that “it’s a possibility mum might not come back home.”<\/p>\n During the surgery, doctors removed a large portion of Fonjock’s leg. The damage, she told the outlet, looked “like roadkill,”\u00a0and she spent two weeks in a medically induced coma in the ICU.<\/p>\n The road to recovery wasn’t easy: She struggled with infections, organ failure, and couldn’t speak, due to a collapsed trachea. Fonjock also lost her fine motor skills, and struggled to communicate on a dry-erase board her friend brought to the hospital.<\/p>\n Caroline Fonjack with her daughters Take PEOPLE with you! Subscribe to PEOPLE magazine<\/a> to get the latest details on celebrity news, exclusive royal updates, how-it-happened true crime stories and more \u2014 right to your mailbox.<\/p>\n “I was so desperately in distress. I couldn’t write,” she says. “It was a really terrifying moment.”<\/p>\n![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3797c34b64113e0065a4d2dab71bee6a.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust<\/p>\n![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f41759a692949c78c39e952252930826.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust<\/p>\n