A dad-of-five had his legs amputated after falling ill on holiday.
Alessandro Luciano was in southern Italy with his wife Iljhama Luciano and their five children.
The 35-year-old came down with a fever on the first day of his summer vacation.
Alessandro also noticed black spots starting to appear on his limbs and rushed to a local hospital.
“My legs were burning, and black spots suddenly appeared on my feet and hands,” Alessandro told Need to Know.
He was diagnosed with a meningococcal type B infection accompanied by a rare and extremely serious complication, purpura fulminans.
The life-threatening condition is characterised by progressive purple skin lesions and tissue necrosis.
Due to the sudden deterioration of his health, the electrician was urgently transferred to a hospital in his home city Stuttgart, Germany.
Doctors had to amputate both of his lower legs, four fingers on his right hand, and part of a finger on his left in August last year.
Iljhama, who met Alessandro when they were 14 years old said: “My husband and I have been in a committed relationship for 21 years and married for almost 15 years.
“We lived happily with our five children.
“And then our nightmare began.
“After many difficult months caring for my mother, we went on vacation to southern Italy.
“But we were not allowed to be happy, our hearts shattered into more than 1,000 pieces when he contracted meningococcus nesseria purpura fulminans.
“He survived, and thankfully his nervous system was not damaged.
“But he needed bilateral leg amputation up to the knee, four long fingers on the right hand were amputated, the middle finger on the left hand was partially amputated, and the index finger is severely restricted.”
Alessandro had recently renovated the family’s fifth-floor apartment, but the same home has now become an obstacle.
Due to his disability, he is unable to freely move around, and installing a stair lift in the apartment building is not possible due to building regulations.
Iljhama launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the costs of installing an external elevator.
She added: “I currently carry him up and down the five floors twice a day using a stair climber – a total weight of over 100kg.
“This not only puts a heavy strain on my health, it also takes away his last vestiges of independence and dignity.
“A stair lift is not possible under building regulations and modern wheelchairs with caterpillar drive are also excluded due to the small platform areas in the stairwell.
“An external elevator is our only hope, but this costs several tens of thousands of Euros – and we cannot finance it.
“The fact that he’s now completely dependent on me, barely mobile, hurts him deeply, and it tears me apart inside.”
As of today (28 Jul), the online campaign has raised £43,278 (€49,826) of a £121,596 (€140,000) goal.
READ MORE: Woman, 29, with ‘worst case’ of rare condition ‘doctors have seen’ travels 4,000 miles for surgery
