North Texas music teacher trying to recover from bacterial loss of limbs, financial devastation

DALLAS — Francis Zalace said her illness will not keep her sidelined, at least not long. The 41-year-old is an El Paso native who came to Dallas to teach.

"My boyfriend said that, 'You know what, maybe you should see a doctor,'" Zalace said.

The first-grade music teacher at Dallas Independent School District's Clinton P. Russell Elementary School said she was having breathing issues. But a trip to the emergency room turned into an ambulance taking her to the hospital because her oxygen level was well below the standard 95-100% at 80%.

Zalace said she woke up in the hospital 10 days later after feeling like she was in a very long dream with abstract colors, audible voices, and kidnappers taking her from one place to another until calling her father in the dream world. She woke up.

"That's when they had to talk with me about needing to amputate, because, essentially, what had happened was they had put me on vasopressors, which was to help my body fight off the infection," she said.

A side effect of her condition, necropsy, was amputation. It became clear to the mother of three after her father explained the past 10 days what needed to happen. Zalace looked at her limbs.

"And my hands were this translucent black-purple color, kind of like onyx stone. And, to me, they felt like they were stuck together," she said.

Her mother, Carmen Seda, and children were by her side.

"She has a huge, huge, huge reservoir of hope," Seda said. "Huge reservoir of, of tenacity. And, we tap into that every day."

Seda is a retired educator who wasted no time coming to see about her daughter until bed bugs ran the family into an extended-stay hotel while Zalace was in the hospital.

"I started keeping a journal at the time just to kind of chart how I was feeling, just kind of ground myself," Seda said. "And the number of times I say, 'okay, there's the shock, shock, and suddenly I couldn't eat.'"

She said they just wanted her daughter alive, but it did not stop the questions to the doctors.

"And at that point, I was just thinking. Can you save her elbows? Can you save her?" Seda asked.

The amputation happened. Zalace said the clock on the wall became her friend and measuring tool for visits, medication, and the day, especially after being in the hospital for months.

"Let's not focus on limitations," Zalace said. "Let's focus on abilities. So that's kind of the attitude that I've had with myself."

In the hospital, she started playing the tongue drum. Her dominant instruments are the clarinet and piano. As she waits on them, prosthetics won't make it impossible, but it is undoubtedly challenging to play some instruments.

"I work a lot more with keyboards and ukulele. And so, you know, I'm like, 'okay, all the percussive stuff I can still do, I've still got these two arms,'" she said. "I can tape mallets to them. Let's go. Piano. I've already played piano a couple of times in recreational therapy."

The plan is to return to the classroom one day. She has videos playing the piano as best she can with her daughter.

First, the family has an online campaign to address mounting medical and temporary housing expenses. But the will to go forward exists.

"She chose ability. She chose perseverance. She chose in more than just hope. You know, hope is the emotion. It's action," Seda said. "It's praxis. It's the action that's going to make it happen. And she's embodying that."

Zalace always wanted to teach music therapy. This situation could make her an example to students who need inspiration. She plans to visit her school to see her students eventually.