A MAN says he woke up thinking he had a cold before being rushed to hospital with a flesh-eating bug that ravaged his bum and left him perilously close to dying.
Simon English, 55, thought he’d picked up a virus from his wife, Kay, 55, who works as a teaching assistant.
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But as the hours went by, his symptoms – a fever, cough and fatigue – got worse.
By the following day, he knew “something wasn’t right” and took himself to hospital.
Doctors diagnosed Simon with necrotising fasciitis – a bacterial infection that results in the death of parts of the body’s soft tissue – leaving him in ICU for three months.
Now, after two skin grafts on his left buttock and temporary stoma surgery, he says he’s slowly getting back to normal.
Simon, a retired fireman, from Beverley, Yorkshire, said: “It’s quite scary when you think about this bug, really – I now look like a shark’s taken a bite out of my a**e.
“I ended up looking like I was about 70 years old, after lying in bed for weeks.
“My nurse told me if I’d left it any longer before going to hospital, I wouldn’t be here now.
“I came so close to dying.”
On the morning of March 26, Simon woke up with flu-like symptoms.
Kay, who works in a school, was “always picking illnesses up” – and had a cold herself, leading Simon to think he was suffering the same symptoms.
He says he felt floored by the “cold” – but put it down to “rarely getting ill” himself.
“I just felt like I was coming down with a heavy cold,” he said.
“I’m one of those people where I just never get ill – or rarely.
“My wife was suffering as well, there’s always something going around at school.”
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But the following morning, Simon felt “shocking”.
His symptoms had become worse – even though it still felt to Simon like a bad flu.
He took himself to A&E – where he was admitted immediately after being triaged.
“The next two weeks are so blurry,” Simon said.
The surgeon did say of all places to get it – you’d want it on your buttock so it’s out-of-sight
Simon English
“I just can’t remember what happened.
“They gave me a lot of morphine – I hallucinated a lot.
“And then, when I came round two weeks later, a doctor told me I had a condition called necrotising fasciitis.”
According to the NHS, necrotising fasciitis, also known as the “flesh-eating disease” is a rare and life-threatening infection which starts in a wound.
What is necrotising fasciitis?
Necrotising fasciitis, also called the “flesh-eating disease”, is a rare and life-threatening infection.
It can happen when bacteria enters the body through an open wound, like a cut or burn.
The infection spreads quickly and aggressively, causes tissue death and can be deadly if not treated right away.
The signs and symptoms to know:
Symptoms of necrotising fasciitis can develop quickly within hours or over a few days.
At first, you may have:
- Intense pain or loss of feeling near to a cut or wound – the pain may seem much worse than you would usually expect from a cut or wound
- Swelling of the skin around the affected area
- Flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature, headache and tiredness
Later symptoms can include:
- Being sick (vomiting) and diarrhoea
- Confusion
- Black, purple or grey blotches and blisters on the skin (these may be less obvious on black or brown skin)
Typical treatment:
Necrotising fasciitis gets worse very quickly and can kill.
This is why it must be treated in hospital as soon as possible.
Sufferers will usually be given antibiotics to fight off the infection or in some cases, surgery to remove the affected area
Even after successful treatment, there may be long-term changes in how the body looks. Some people require further surgery and physiotherapy to help recover.
The mortality rate for the infection is high – and Simon says his doctor told him that “one in five patients don’t make it”.
Within the two-week period Simon was on morphine, he was told he’d been rushed for emergency surgery to debride – or cut out – the infection on his left buttock.
“I had four operations to fully debride it,” he said.
“They dressed it, and sent me back to the ICU.”
Long recovery
Around four to five days after he came to, Simon was sent for a skin graft on his buttock – with skin taken from his right leg.
His body rejected the first graft – but the second one “stuck” and a two-month-long rehabilitation period in hospital began.
Simon said: “I had to walk around the hospital with a walking frame.
“I was in hospital for a further two months, to allow the wound to heal.”
The infection was so severe, Simon even had an emergency colostomy to allow his wound to heal properly.
He’s still waiting to hear when the reversal procedure will be done.
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After being discharged from hospital in June, the retiree is slowly getting back to “normal” life.
He’s hoping to go back to working as a volunteer gardener very soon.
“Apart from my stoma, I’m all healed up,” he said.
“My wound has totally healed – although it looks a bit funny, because of my skin graft.
“The surgeon did say of all places to get it – you’d want it on your buttock so it’s out-of-sight.
“I’ve started doing a few little handyman jobs here and there, and I would like to get back to being a part-time gardener.
“I’m hoping to hear about my stoma reversal surgery in the next eight weeks.”
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