A Michigan man narrowly escaped a brush with death after he contracted a flesh-eating bacteria which, surgeons believe, came from fecal matter that brushed onto his hands while he was renovating someone’s bathroom.
Last month, construction worker Josh Munoz, from Detroit, took a break from the renovation to take a trip to Texas with his wife Sarah for their one-year wedding anniversary.
It was there that the father-of-three noticed pieces of his flesh falling off his inner left thigh while he was taking a shower.
The couple drove all the way back to Michigan, where doctors told Munoz that he had contracted a rare blood infection and that he needed immediate emergency surgery or else he would die.
Josh Munoz (left and right, with his wife Sarah), from Detroit, Michigan, was in Texas on an anniversary trip with his wife last month. Munoz was taking a shower and, as he scrubbed his inner left thigh, he saw that pieces of flesh were falling off
The couple drove 20 hours back to Michigan where their children were. Doctors in the emergency room diagnosed Munoz with necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria that destroys tissue under the skin. Pictured: Munoz’s leg after the surgery
Munoz said he had no symptoms prior to the shower but that he was horrified when he saw chunks of skin near the drain.
‘My skin was being washed away,’ Munoz told the Houston Chronicle.
‘Not like a sunburn, like enough for me to know something was majorly wrong. I was losing meat off my leg, you could see everything.’
Munoz called his doctor back home, who told him to go to the emergency room immediately.
However, the couple decided to drive 1,500 miles back home to be near their three son, ages 16, 14 and two.
Sarah drove the 20 hours back to Michigan because Munoz said he was going in and out of consciousness.
At one point during the drive, Munoz asked to stop and rest but his wife was insistent that they continue driving.
In the emergency room, doctors diagnosed Munoz with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare bacterial infection that spreads quickly in the body and can cause the loss of limbs or death.
The exact cause of the infection is unknown, but it enters the body through the tiniest cut or scrape in the skin, with between 700 and 1200 cases occurring in the US each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The health agency says that a prompt diagnosis and rapid treatment is key to stopping the infection in its tracks.
Early symptoms include a red or swollen area of the skin and severe pain. Later symptoms can include dizziness, nausea, blisters and change in skin color.
The CDC says about 25 to 30 percent of necrotizing fasciitis cases every year result in death.
Munoz says doctors believe he contracted the infection from fecal matter while renovating a customer’s bathroom.
‘Within 20 minutes of seeing me, the doctor said he was going to prep for emergency surgery,’ Munoz told The Chronicle.
Munoz said that, when he awoke from surgery, the doctor told him there was an 80 percent chance he would have died in his sleep if he hadn’t made it back to Michigan when he did.
Munoz received emergency surgery upon arrival. Doctors told him that if he had visited a day later, he would have died. Pictured: Munoz with his family
So far, Munoz has had five surgeries, including skin graphs from pig skin and cadavers. He will still need to undergo plastic surgery for his thigh and will be bedridden for three to six months. Pictured: Munoz with his wife and youngest son
Surgeons believe the infection came from fecal matter that Munoz touched while renovating a customer’s bathroom and that it entered his body through cuts on his hands. Pictured: A blurred out photo of Munoz’s blackened thigh
‘I was so thankful to my wife for being persistent and keeping me going,’ he said.
According to a GoFundMe page, Munoz has had five surgeries, including skin graphs from pig skin and cadavers.
He will still need to undergo plastic surgery for his thigh and will be bedridden for three to six months, unable to work.
‘It’s a traumatic and life-altering experience,’ Munoz told The Chronicle. ‘Not just for myself, but for my three sons and my wife. My eldest son has stepped up and gotten a part-time job.’
Munoz’s friends have set up the GoFundMe page to cover his medical expenses and the family’s living expenses.
So far, more than $3,500 has been raised out of a $5,000 goal.