Teen With Rare Infection Hopes Denver Doctors Can Save Her Hand

DENVER (CBS4) - A teenager with a rare infection hopes doctors at National Jewish Health in Denver can save her hand.

For 5 years Hannele Cox has been fighting a flesh eating infection that started with a small scrape from the family fish tank and has spread to the bone. She believes her best chance at treatment is at National Jewish Health. Doctors there may be the teenager's last resort.

Doctors at National Jewish Health are experts in infectious disease. If they can't help Cox, she may end up losing her hand.

Cox is an equestrian and an avid gymnast who once had high hopes.

"My dream was to go to the Olympics. I was state champion and second in the nation," she said.

But Cox can no longer compete because of her condition.

"I've been on tons and tons of medications and it hasn't even worked … and surgeries; I've gone through two surgeries and those don't work either," Cox said.

The infection is so severe the 13-year-old from Oak Hills, Calif. shakes with pain.

"It's constant; it's sharp," she said.

Cox is infected with mycobacterium marinum -- bacteria found in fish tanks. She cut her hand pulling it out of the family fish tank in 2006. The bacteria is usually a skin problem, but in this rare case the infection spread much deeper and just keeps getting worse.

"I've been looking for 5 years for somebody who's actually treated this successfully," Cox's mother Amy Cox said.

That search has led her to Denver.

"We have successfully treated these kinds of infections in the past," William Allstetter with National Jewish Health said.

Cox could be in Denver for 3 weeks on a potent mix of antibiotics. But if experts can't stop the infection, she fears her hand will have to be amputated.

"I'm trying to stay positive throughout all of this," Cox said.

"I would say this is her best shot," Allstetter said.

Amy Cox said she and her daughter are coming to Denver on Thursday. She said after years of looking for help she finally found National Jewish through a Google search and she's thrilled that doctors here are already thinking "out of the box."

Amy Cox said they are talking about aggressive treatment, even putting antibiotic beads in the hand.