When you’re healthy, it can be startling to see how damaging a bacterial infection can be and how quickly it can spread. And there's no one this applies to more than those who suffer from severe bacterial infections, such as those caused by flesh-eating bacteria. One of those people is 34-year-old Cindy Martinez.

The former marine and mother of two has been fighting a severe bacterial infection known as necrotizing fasciitis since May 25, when she was admitted to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Ga. with severe pain in her left shoulder, The Washington Post reported. Necrotizing fasciitis is a “serious bacterial infection that spreads quickly and kills the body’s soft tissue,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Within four days of her admission, the infection had spread through the left side of her body, forcing doctors to remove dead tissue. Then, last Thursday, she had to undergo surgery again to have her right hand and both feet amputated. Some fingers on her left hand are still at risk of amputation.

“A lot of the decision was from [Cindy],” her husband David told People. “She actually said she had enough. She said she was tired of being in the hospital. She wanted to go home. She wanted to get better.” Getting the amputations sooner rather than later reduced risk of secondary infection, he said. “Sure, she was a little scared. But she was able to fight through that fear and say, ‘Enough is enough.’”

David said the source of Cindy’s infection is a “mystery,” and that she didn’t have any apparent injury that could’ve served as an entry point for bacteria. Often though, bacteria, such as Streptococcus A, E. coli, and Clostridium, can enter the body though something as small as an insect bite, Ruth Berkelman, a professor of epidemiology at Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Usually when you talk with patients, if you ask them if they remember having a cut or something, they say ‘yes,’ but not always. Maybe there was an insect bite or mild abrasion they didn’t pay attention to, but it does happen when people don’t remember anything,” she said.

Despite how quickly the painful disease spread through her body, Cindy is staying positive, David said. She’s currently recovering at an unidentified hospital and is expected to be transferred to a rehab facility where she’ll presumably get prosthetics within the next two weeks. “Things are going to be a bit different,” David said. “But I believe that things are going to get better. We’re becoming closer as a family, our faith in God is stronger, and people have already come up to me telling me that my wife and I are already inspiring them.”

The family has set up a GoFundMe page to assist in Cindy’s medical expenses. So far, it has raised nearly $82,000.