My Scare With Death

You never know where life will take you or what would happen the next day as the days ahead are never promised.

Christmas Eve 2001 started like any normal day, full of joy for the next day and busy getting last minute things done for Christmas. I still had some presents to wrap so I decided to go to my room and wrap the rest and bring them upstairs. I proceeded to go to the basement and walked downstairs, knowing fully that the light was burned out, so I crept carefully down the stairs to my bedroom and went to step down and suddenly felt a sharp pain in my right foot and the gushing feeling of something wet. I hopped to my room, turned on the light, and saw a piece of metal sticking out of my foot. I went and sat on my bed, pulled the piece of metal out, and cleaned my foot like nothing had happened because after all, I wasn't going to the hospital on Christmas Eve.

After I cleaned my foot, I really didn't feel any pain and the wound looked clean. Over the next six days, everything looked fine. There was no redness and no pain, so I thought I was fine. But what I didn't realize is that on that piece of metal were mice droppings.

New Year's Eve came and I had a few drinks at home with my family and January 1 came and I was sick. I thought it was just a hangover due to the drinking I did the night before. My mom had to work on the 2nd and left for work and I was upstairs in the living room. What I know from this point on is what my mom and dad had told me. I was on the couch and suddenly I collapsed on the floor. My dad who was home at the time didn't think anything of it and kept saying, "You're fine. You are just hung over." I was on the floor all day, covered with a blanket and the only thing I remember is my mom screaming at my dad saying something is wrong with me and to call 911. I could feel her shoving chocolate into my mouth telling me to eat that—if I don't, I could die.

The only thing I can remember after that is glimpses of the ambulance, hospital room, and the doctors saying you need to fight. After that point, it's all blur. I woke up with a tube down my throat and my hands tied to the bed. The nurse looked at me and said I was in the ICU and I needed to stay still and if I promised not to pull at my tube, she would untie my hands. I nodded and she untied me. I motioned for a pen and paper and she brought it to me. The first thing I wrote was to ask where my parents where. She replied: "They are on their way." The next thing I wrote was "When can I get this tube out?" She kinda laughed and said that I could get it out by the afternoon. What happened next was devastating. My parents arrived and the doctor as well. I found out that I had a flesh-eating disease and that I am very lucky I am alive.

By this time, it was already January 17, so I was in an induced coma because the pain would be unbearable to take. I found out that during this time frame, I wasn't supposed to live and they were running out of options. There was one doctor that wouldn't give up on me. He made some calls and a drug company from the States said they had a drug they could send to try and at that point, the doctors were willing to try anything. The drug name is Activated Protein C and it's something your body produces but because I was so sick, my body wasn't. That was the reason all my systems were shutting down. They administered it at 3 AM and by 8 PM the next day, my body was starting to show signs that I was going to make it through.

The doctor had told me that the combination of the mice fecal matter and the alcohol I drank on New Years was what made me sick. Over the next four months that I spent in the hospital, I went through three other surgeries to repair my leg. I lost 52 lbs of dead and damaged muscles and tendons, as well as tissue. I went through three debridements, extensive rehab, as well as more pain that I wouldn't wish upon anyone. I had to learn to walk as well as learn to live again. If I knew now what I didn't know then, I would have gone to the hospital. I wouldn't have waited. They say God works in mysterious ways and I can definitely say I am happy that my life was saved that day and I am lucky that I live to tell my story.