What started out as a fun event turned into a nightmare for 18-year-old Crawfordsville resident Stephanie Edington.

Edington decided on her 18th birthday to get her breasts pierced at Neon Novelty with a cousin who was home from the Navy.

"It was just a spontaneous thing I decided to do with my cousin," she said.

What has happened since that visit on Aug. 29 is a nightmare which has changed the lives of her and her family.

After a few weeks Stephanie began suffering some tenderness and redness in and around the area that was pierced. Some leakage also began to take place. She contacted the person who did the piercing and was told to wash the area with soap and water.

"The pain just kept getting worse and worse," Stephanie said. "I went to work, but the pain was really bad, and my supervisor told me I didn't look too good and that I should go home."

Instead of going home, she went directly from Heritage Products to the emergency room at St. Clare Medical Center.

According to Edington's mother, Pamela Osban, Edington never signed a waiver, never heard any explanation about the high risk of infection since she was diabetic, and was not given discharge papers, or any paperwork on how to care for the new piercing.

The condition worsened and she eventually was admitted to St. Claire Medical Center with an infection on Oct. 12. After two days, she was transferred to the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis.

Her condition continued to deteriorate and eventually she had to have her breast, the lymph nodes and skin from the breast area to the collar bone removed. Basically everything has been removed down to the muscle and bone.

Dr. Robert Goulet Jr., Medical Director of Breast Care and Research Center and Professor of Surgery at the Indiana University Cancer Center, said Edington had a very rare condition called necrotizing fasciitis or gas gangrene.

"It's a rare condition and extremely rare in the breast area," he said. "This is only the third documented case in the world in the breast area. It is the first case I have seen."

The condition results from very rapid bacteria growth which leads to tissue destruction. According to Goulet, Edington was in very critical condition by the time she arrived at Indianapolis.

"Her body was in the beginning stages of septic shock," he said. "By the time she got here the skin tissue was all pretty much completely dead. Her lungs were filled with fluids. She was a very sick kid when she got here."

Doctors at the Indiana University Medical Center quickly removed the affected skin and other affected tissue and had Edington on a very "aggressive antibiotic regiment." In addition, the wound was not closed because bacteria thrive in low oxygen environments. Part of the treatment was to allow as much oxygen as possible to get to the affected area.

Goulet said Edington has already undergone three surgeries and is facing multiple surgeries in the future with the next one scheduled for approximately six months if everything goes well.

Goulet said it is difficult to say where the infection came from, but the fact that the skin had been compromised allowing for an entry point for the infection to enter the body played a key role in the severity of the situation. The infection was a combination of staph and strep.

"I say there are points against the infection being a result of the actual piercing because we only saw the infection in one breast," Goulet said. "If the equipment was contaminated I would have expected to see the infection in both breasts. Had a secondary infection not have occurred it's hard to say what would have transpired. The pierce compromised the skin and gave the infection an entry point."

The entry point for an infection, added to the fact that Edington is diabetic, left her susceptible to the infection.

"It's like I just want to wake up and have the nightmare be over," Osban said. "This has been such a difficult time for the family. You have no idea what it's like to almost lose your daughter and then to make the decision to have one of her breasts removed. Some people say 'It's just a breast.' They aren't an 18-year old girl. It's devastating for her and for the family."

For now the infection has been stopped, or so the doctors think.

"Physically, it seems like we have turned the corner and the prognosis has gone from her having just a couple of hours to good," Osban said. "Mentally, it will take a long time to recover. She will never be the way she was before this whole thing started."

Osban, who works at Nucor as a temporary has taken time off and has spent the last 10 days at Indianapolis to be close to her daughter. In addition, Osban's boyfriend, Ritchie Guthrie, along with Stephanie's grandmother, Sherry Bosher and Aunt Joellen "Joey" Nagel have been at the hospital every day.

"That's the only way I have been able to make it through this," Stephanie said. "My family has really been there to support me."

"She doesn't like for us to leave," Osban said. "She is scared."

There has been a fund started to help with expenses at the Old National Bank in Hillsboro by her grandmother.

After Tuesday's surgery, Stephanie was hoping to be released in three to five days. However, that is likely now going to be delayed to later next week because Edington is still in pain.

"She is doing very well now," Goulet said. "She has a long road in front of her."

Stephanie is ready to leave the hospital, but is a little scared about what will await her outside the walls of the hospital.

"I want people to know that it's going to be a while before I am able to get out and about," she said. "I'll be honest, I don't know if I am looking forward to getting out. I would like to get out, but I am scared of what people are going to be thinking."

She did have one thing to add.

"I wish I could go back, and if I could, I never would have had the piercing done," she said. "And if anyone tells me they are thinking about it I will try my best to talk them out of it. It's just not worth the risk."

Even after getting out of the hospital it will be a long time for recovery. The plastic surgeons have told her it will be at least one year for all the reconstructive surgery to be completed.

"We will just be glad to have her home again with us," Osban said of her and Stephanie's two brothers, Frankie Edington, 16, and Vaugh Krzyzopolski, 14, and sister, Harmony Maddock, 11.

Neon Novelty did not return calls from The Paper.

For more information on necrotizing fasciitis visit www.nnff.org