YOU NEED TO KNOW
-
Brian Roush, 62, was celebrating in the Bahamas with his girlfriend during New Years, when he sprained his ankle
-
He fell ill once he returned home to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and doctors immediately suspected necrotizing fasciitis, known as flesh-eating disease.
-
He was given a 10% chance of survival
After scraping his ankle on vacation in the Bahamas, a Florida man ended up with a devastating case of the flesh-eating disease — and doctors gave him just a 10% chance of survival.
Brian Roush, 62, had traveled to the islands over the New Year with his girlfriend, Tonia Buford Stinson, to celebrate their recent engagement. While there, he tripped and sprained his ankle, his daughter, Brittany Roush, told WFLA. But it was a minor injury that did not prevent him from typical Bahamian activities, such as swimming with the pigs and going on the water slide.
On the way home to Fort Lauderdale on January 3, “he became violently ill. Within hours, he was admitted to a hospital in Ft Lauderdale for severe septic shock, was intubated, and placed on a ventilator,” GoFundMe established by Brittany to help support Roush’s recovery, he explains.
gofundme
The disease progressed rapidly. As Brittany told WFLA, “his ankle popped sheets” in the emergency room. Doctors immediately suspected necrotizing fasciitis – commonly known as flesh-eating disease – which causes tissues to die immediately.
Her father was forced into emergency surgery, where doctors removed the diseased tissue, but at this point, he had gone into sepsis, the potentially fatal immune response to an infection.
“Sepsis was wreaking havoc. Brian’s liver, kidneys, and lungs failed while he was in septic shock and he was placed in an induced coma on life support,” explains the GoFundMe. “His ankle became gangrenous, and most of the flesh from his ankle to his lower calf had to be removed to the bone.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The doctors had given him only a 10% chance of survival. But “miraculously, after a week of non-stop antibiotics and life support, he cleared the infection and his lungs and liver began to recover,” explains the GoFundMe.
However, Roush is unclear, as he needs to be transferred to a long-term care facility to relearn how to walk and use his legs.
“He’s doing his best to keep a positive attitude despite waking up to this nightmare,” explains the GoFundMe, joking about how “he’s giving compliments to the nursing staff for keeping the ice water flowing.”
Necrotizing fasciitis is rare – but the steps you can take to minimize your chances of getting it are the same as you would to prevent any infection, Cleveland Clinic explains. You should clean any wound with soap and water, and keep it covered with a clean bandage – and avoid swimming pools, hot tubs, or any body of water, such as the ocean, with a break in your skin.
Read the original article on People