A dad-of-two almost lost his leg after it became infected with flesh-eating bacteria when he brushed against a bin bag.
Douglas Murphy, 47, was cleaning up after a picnic when he scraped his leg against the bag - but never imagined the months of anguish which would follow.
The scrape almost cost him his right leg when it became infected with the rare bacteria necrotizing fasciitis – a flesh-eating bug.
Antibiotics only began to work as doctors were printing out the paperwork to authorise amputation.
“I attended a picnic for my daughter’s kindergarten class,” said Mr Murphy of Brooklyn, New York.
“The kids played and it was a wonderful day.
“After the party ended, I helped in the clean up.
“I filled a bag with trash and, as it neared filling, spun the bag so I could tie it off.
“The bag’s bottom corner brushed – and we’re talking barely touched – my ankle and left a little teensie bit of juice on my sock.
“There was no abrasion or anything visible.”
That evening, Mr Murphy, who owns a summer camp company, was at home watching a movie with his daughters Livvy Grace, now 13 and Eleanor, now 11, when he began to feel feverish.
“My leg, foot and ankle began to swell and a nasty dark purple began to spread and grow. My temperature was rising, I started feeling awful,” he said.
“I thought it was a spider bite. I made my kids look but they didn’t see anything.”
By the following evening, his temperature had rocketed to 42 degrees celsius and he could put weight on his ankle.
He rushed to New York Methodist Hospital and collapsed at the intake desk.
As the infection took hold, Mr Murphy began to suffer “crazy fever dreams”, telling his mother he was due to fly via private plane to Tokyo to attend a party hosted by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Despite being hooked up to several IV drips and plied with different combinations of antibiotics, Mr Murphy’s fever refused to slow.
When red infection lines began to shoot over his knee, surgeons decided to prep him for amputation.
It was not until they were printing out the paperwork to authorise the operation that the medicine finally began to work.
Eventually, the infection was beaten and Mr Murphy was moved to a regular hospital room to recover.
“At first they put me in a shared room and it was really only then that I began to get coherent.
“There was a guy in the bed nearby and his wife sitting at the foot of the bed,” Mr Murphy said.
“They were both staring at me. I looked down at my massive, swollen, disgusting leg with flesh literally falling away, hair a mess, soaked in sweat – not the person you want to be wheeled into your room.
“Once I moved into a single and washed up, I began to feel more human. My sister stayed in my room day and night and, while wearing gloves, peeled away layer after later of dead, disgusting tissue.”
Mr Murphy was discharged and given crutches, which he found difficult to navigate.
On his first day back home, he slipped, broke his hip and was sent back to hospital for a string of orthopaedic surgeries which ended in a total hip replacement.
His lymph system was severely damaged following the infection and his foot is now covered in scar tissue.
He is keen to raise awareness of his ordeal, working tirelessly with the National Necrotizing Faciitis Foundation.
“When I look at the pictures I have a hard time believing that it’s me and I survived,” he said.
“The doctors think that a teensie abrasion from the trash bag and the presence of the bacteria on the bag was enough to let in the infection. The bacteria is present all over the world.
“My foot has healed completely mottled and hurts much of the time but I get used to it.
“It’s good to be alive.”
Canary Updates
By Erin Cardiff
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