The Tribune

A FLORIDA man who scraped his ankle while vacationing in The Bahamas over the New Year was later given just a ten percent chance of survival after developing necrotising fasciitis, a rare and fast-moving infection commonly known as flesh-eating disease, according to reports.

Brian Roush, 62, had travelled to the islands with his girlfriend, Tonia Buford Stinson, to celebrate recently moving in together. While there, he tripped and scraped his ankle — an injury his family initially considered minor.

His daughter, Brittany Roush, told WFLA that the cut did not slow him down. He continued typical holiday activities, including swimming with pigs and going on waterslides.

But on the flight home to Fort Lauderdale on January 3, his condition changed suddenly. According to a GoFundMe page established by his daughter to support his recovery, “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,” People magazine reports.

Doctors at the hospital quickly grew alarmed. Brittany Roush told WFLA that “his ankle erupted into blisters” while he was in the emergency room. Physicians suspected necrotising fasciitis, a life-threatening bacterial infection that destroys tissue at alarming speed.

Roush was rushed into emergency surgery, where doctors removed infected tissue. By then, he had developed sepsis — a potentially fatal immune response to 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,” the GoFundMe page said. “His ankle became gangrenous, and most of the flesh from his ankle to his lower calf had to be removed down to the bone.”

Doctors told the family that his chances of survival were just 10 percent.

But after a week of intensive treatment, his condition began to stabilise.

“Miraculously, after a week of nonstop antibiotics and life support, he cleared the infection and his lungs and liver began to recover,” the GoFundMe said.

Roush remains hospitalised and faces a long recovery. He is expected to be transferred to a long-term care facility, where he will need to relearn how to walk and regain use of his limbs.

“He is doing his best to maintain a positive attitude despite waking up to this nightmare,” the GoFundMe said, adding that he has been “lavishing compliments on the nursing staff so they keep the ice water flowing.”

Necrotising fasciitis is rare, but medical experts say the precautions to avoid it are straightforward. According to the Cleveland Clinic, wounds should be cleaned with soap and water, kept covered with a clean bandage, and protected from exposure to swimming pools, hot tubs or natural bodies of water, including the ocean.

The infection’s sudden onset and severity have stunned Roush’s family, who are now focused on his recovery after what doctors initially feared would be a fatal outcome.