A 40-year-old woman from Shawnee, Oklahoma, recently had to get major parts of both arms and both legs amputated due to a serious infection from an unnoticed tick bite after a vacation, according to her husband and hospital staff. 
 
 The patient, Jo Rogers, is currently in the intensive care unit of Integris' Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where she is being treated for complications stemming from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF), her husband, Keith Rogers, told ABC News Friday. 
 
 RMSF is a potentially fatal tick-borne disease caused by the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
 
 "After things started going bad and she went into septic shock, the blood flow cut off to her limbs, and her hands and feet started going black," her husband said. "So, two weeks ago, they had to cut off her right leg just above the knee, her left leg just below the knee and both her arms about mid-forearm." 
 
 Keith Rogers said that he visits his wife every day at the hospital as she battles other complications from RMSF, including blood clots in her lungs that necessitated a tracheotomy last Friday. 
 
 "Every day is a new challenge," he said. "I go in there, sit and talk to her and show her pictures of how our two boys are doing. I show her videos of her two dogs back at home. I try to keep it normal, but it gets very hard because she'll want me not to leave, and it's so hard because I can't take her with me." 
 
 Though Jo Rogers currently can't speak or walk, her husband wants people to know she is a fun-loving woman who loved her dogs, hiking and nature. 
 
 The couple went hiking at Natural Falls State Park, close to the Oklahoma-Arkansas border, this past Fourth of July, he said, explaining that there weren't many waterfalls in Oklahoma and she wanted to go see one. 
 
 "But when we came back, she started feeling sick, and she thought she might have the flu," Keith Rogers said, noting that headaches turned into fevers that then became aggravated with vomiting and dizziness. 
 
 Though his wife initially resisted going to the hospital, she was so lethargic a week later that "she wasn't making any sense," Keith Rogers said, so he took her to the emergency room. 
 
 As her health deteriorated, doctors did rounds of tests on her, including tests for meningitis and West Nile Virus, but they only figured out she had complications from a tick-borne illness when she was already developing gangrene on her limbs, he said. 
 
 "We're not sure if she was bit by the tick when we were hiking at the falls or if it was at home," he said. "I don't think it's really set in with my family yet, but for me, it's up and down every day." 
 
 Keith Rogers said he's not sure if his wife will be in the hospital for a few more months or a year, but once she's fully recovered, he said she'll likely transition to rehab and that the family would take it from there. 
 
 A GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of Jo's medical care has been set up by her cousin, he added. 
 
 "RMSF is the most commonly reported tick-borne illness in Oklahoma," according to the state Health Department. "In addition, Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of RMSF in the United States." 
 
 A spokesperson for Integris' Baptist Medical Center told ABC News that Jo Rogers' physician declined to be interviewed but confirmed she was currently at the hospital being treated for RMSF and that she has had amputations. 
 
 Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a senior medical contributor for ABC News, said RMSF is s currently in peak tick season. 
 
 "It's been reported in urban areas and even found in people who have not been camping," she said. 
 
 The symptoms -- fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, and rash -- can mimic a lot of viruses, she said. 
 
 "If there is a suspicion that these symptoms could be related to a tick bite, the recommendation is to start doxycycline antibiotics immediately because time is of the essence," said Ashton. ||||| This is my precious, beautiful cousin, Jo Rogers. She just turned 40 last march, has 2 young sons, ages 17 and 12 and today is her and her husband, Keith's 14th wedding anniversary, but she isn't able to celebrate it. She has been in the 3 different hospitals since July 9th, after a short vacation in NE Oklahoma. Shortly after being moved to an Oklahoma City hospital, she went into septic shock and was put on a ventilator into a medical coma. She was tested for West Nile Virus, meningitis and all other bacterial and viral infections. To protect her vital organs, her body deferred the infection to her limbs. Since then she has had surgeries to remove her right leg mid-thigh, her left leg below the knee and both of her arms mid-forearm. She will soon have more surgeries on her arms to prevent the infection from spreading more. Last Friday, it was found that she has a blood clot in her lung, more infection in her blood and they are fighting the possibility of pneumonia. They finally found that she has Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever; the worst case seen. She is still on a ventilator and being kept sedated to help with pain. Although she will have insurance for a couple more months, her medical bills are mounting daily and will continue as she will be in the hospital for many more months with rehab, prosthetics and home and car renovation to accommodate her needs. While still working, her husband is at the hospital for most of his free time while still trying to take care of their sons. Although our friends and family are doing all we can to help them, it will never be enough so I am asking for help from anyone who is willing to help. I really didn't know what to set the donation amount at because I have never had to worry about something like this. It's all so overwhelming, unreal and devastatingly heartbreaking. Any help offered would be so appreciated! Enjoy every minute of every single day because you never know what could happen tomorrow. Thank you and God bless. 
 
 Help spread the word! Share Tweet 3.2k total shares total shares ||||| AS SHE swept a friend's make-up brush across her face, Warwick woman Jo Gilchrist could never have imagined she was triggering a battle that would force her to fight for her life. 
 
 The bristles of that brush gently glided over a pimple on her face and are most likely how a staph infection invaded her body. 
 
 The insidious bacteria eventually travelled to and attacked her spine, leaving her writhing in pain and her body going numb. 
 
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 Just over a month since the onset, the young mum of one is now wheelchair-bound and will call the spinal ward of the Princess Alexandra Hospital home for at least the next three months. 
 
 Initially told she would never walk again, her best-case outlook is she may one day be able to walk an hour or two a day. 
 
 But she will be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. 
 
 She will never again have control of her bowel or bladder and has no sexual function. 
 
 Never again will she chase her two-year-old son Tommy around the yard. 
 
 Her life has been thrown into turmoil since that day in February when she noticed something was seriously wrong. 
 
 "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 said. 
 
 "I rate the pain worse than childbirth; I literally thought I was going to die." 
 
 Days later things took a turn for the worst when Jo started to lose the feeling in her legs. 
 
 "They told me if it went up my arms and chest I would have to learn to breathe again and it would be my parents' decision to turn the machines off," she said. 
 
 "It was horrible when I heard that but I also got this incredible fight for life. I knew I had to keep fighting because I didn't want to not be able to see my son grow up. Before I got airlifted out I could feel (the paralysis) going up my arms and I was trying to fight it and keep my arms moving." 
 
 Jo later learned she contracted community-associated MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant form of golden staph. 
 
 She was told it had damaged her spine and she would be restricted to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. 
 
 But she kept fighting. 
 
 "They first said I would never walk again but I got a wiggle out of my toes and I just kept fighting," she said. 
 
 "This has been a real wake-up call. Before this I was just going through the motions and existing but now I have a huge fight for life. If someone tells me I can't do something, I keep going because just the look on their faces when I do it is worth it." 
 
 On top of dealing with the huge physical trauma and changes her body is going through, single mum Jo is fighting the emotional battle of being away from her son. 
 
 The little boy who is too young to understand his mummy can't come home. 
 
 "He hates it and I don't see him very often because he is in Warwick," she said. 
 
 "I can't talk to him on the phone because he throws tantrums and won't say goodbye but won't hang up. 
 
 "When he comes here he screams when he has to leave and it is heartbreaking to see him leave like that." 
 
 ABOVE: A visit with her friend, Bec Bolzan. Contributed 
 
 Jo now faces Easter, Mother's Day and her son's third birthday away from the main man in her life. 
 
 "I would rather him not be here on those days because I want him to be happy all day and not upset when he has to say goodbye," she said. 
 
 Although devastated by being away from her son, Jo reminds herself there are better days ahead. 
 
 "I have pictures of him and his drawings all over the walls and I look at them every day," she said. 
 
 "It will feel like a lifetime but at least I will get to go home to him in July and it will be OK. 
 
 "This is the best possible place for me." 
 
 This week Jo was on a high after mastering a "wheelie" in her wheelchair, a skill she had to master before being able to venture out on trips in her chair. 
 
 She is trying to remain positive about her future. 
 
 "There are so many people worse off than me - I am lucky really," she said. 
 
 "There are people in here who are in automatic chairs because they can't use their hands. 
 
 "I think it's a good thing I am in a wheelchair because I am a bit of speed demon - I'm pretty good." 
 
 As she works on her recovery, Jo's friends have been working on their own project. Trying to boost her spirits, they reached out to Jo's favourite musician Seth Sentry to visit her in hospital. 
 
 Although he was busy on a tour, Seth sent a personal message to the Warwick mum and passed on his best wishes in her recovery. "Even if he hadn't sent the message, it was just so amazing to know that people tried to help," Jo said. 
 
 To follow Jo's progress search #jolovessethsentry on Facebook and who knows, maybe Seth might visit Jo after all. 
 
 MRSA 
 
 About one-third of healthy people carry staph bacteria on their skin or in their nose. 
 
 Drug-resistant strains are known as MRSA 
 
 MRSA strains can cause skin and soft tissue infections, however can also become serious and life-threatening
– A Fourth of July hike to see waterfalls near Grand Lake, Okla., took a bad turn once Jo Rogers and her husband, Keith, got home. Soon after their return, Keith tells ABC News, Jo didn't feel well and suspected the flu. But as Jo got sicker and so lethargic that Keith says "she wasn't making any sense," he took her to the ER about a week after they came home—and things continued to worsen. "She was shaking her hands because they hurt, her feet hurt," her cousin, Lisa Morgan, tells KOCO. Then her organs began shutting down, and "by Saturday morning, her arms and feet were turning dark blue and black. It was crawling up her limbs," Morgan says. The diagnosis: a tick bite that infected Jo with Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The course of treatment: to amputate all four of her already-gangrenous limbs to give her a chance at life. "They had to cut off her right leg just above the knee, her left leg just below the knee and both her arms about mid-forearm," her husband tells ABC, noting Jo has also been contending with other complications from the disease, including blood clots in her lungs that called for a tracheotomy. Up to 5% people who contract RMSF end up dying, the state Department of Health notes, but death isn't common in patients who receive rapid diagnosis and treatment. Keith Rogers doesn't know how long his wife will be in the hospital receiving treatment and rehab, he tells ABC. "Every day is a new challenge. I go in there, sit and talk to her and show her pictures of how our two boys [ages 12 and 17, per a GoFundMe page for the family] are doing," he tells ABC. "I show her videos of her two dogs back at home. I try to keep it normal, but it gets very hard because she'll want me not to leave, and it's so hard because I can't take her with me." (There's another new tick-borne disease making waves.)