'By the Grace of God': Leading PGA Golfer's Wife Nearly Died, Now Her Miracle Recovery I
Golfer Marc Leishman took an early lead at the Masters Tournament as the PGA's premier event kicked off Thursday morning. He's at the tournament with his wife Audrey, but this moment almost didn't happen. In fact, she nearly died three years ago.
Just before this year's PGA tour, the Leishmans sat down with Studio 5 to share their story.
"I was having some stomach issues and thought it was just the stomach flu," said Audrey. What she thought was the flu turned out to be sepsis, toxic shock syndrome, and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Her medical emergency happened just before the 2015 PGA Masters Tournament.
"I was down there the week before, and you get the phone call that almost changes your life," Marc said.
His wife's condition was so dire Marc withdrew from that year's tournament.
"We later found out if I hadn't gone to the ER that night, there was a very good chance I wouldn't have woken up," Audrey said.
Three years ago, almost to the week, Leishman’s wife, Audrey, nearly died from toxic-shock syndrome, a rare, life-threatening complication of certain bacterial infections.
She also suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome, which occurs when fluid builds up in the small, elastic air sacs in the lungs. The more fluid in the lungs, the less oxygen to reach the bloodstream and the rest of the body’s organs, which then begin to shut down.
Audrey was induced into a coma that lasted four days to pinpoint the illnesses. Her last words to her husband, who rushed to her bedside from Augusta National, where he was practicing for the following week’s Masters, were to look after the cats and take their two kids to get their photos with the Easter bunny.
Doctors gave her a 5-percent chance to live.
At one point, Leishman wasn’t sure whether he’d ever set foot on a green again himself. “If Audrey had have passed away, I was going to be a dad and that was it,” he said. “It didn't cross my mind to keep playing golf.”
Eventually, Audrey’s condition improved. But recovery was slow and the journey filled with pitfalls.
“It was your worst nightmare,” she said. “They went through their nightmare when I was in my coma, and when I woke up it was a big relief for them and that’s when my nightmare started.
“That’s when I realized what happened to me, and how sick I really was.”
For a year-and-a-half, she battled various respiratory infections. A year ago at Bay Hill, she was hospitalized after falling ill and had to be pumped full of steroids and intravenous fluid. Then last May, she underwent a tonsillectomy and spent most of the summer downing antibiotics.
“There was a long time where I wasn’t sure if I was always going to be sick or if I was ever going to get better,” she said. “To be here, it really is hard to put into words.”
It wasn’t until last year that she was finally given a clean bill of health by doctors. The following month she got pregnant. In July she will give birth to a baby girl.
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