Colorado dad-of-two has both feet amputated and nose mummified after FLU led to ... trends now
A man in Colorado had both hands and feet amputated after the flu caused him to go into near-deadly sepsis.
Josh Meyer was alone with his two young children in February when he caught the flu. Thinking nothing of it, he toughed it out while his wife, Courtney, was on a business trip.
However, when his wife came home that Friday, 'it was really bad,' Mr Meyer told CBS Colorado.
'I was blue. I was talking incoherently and then I looked at her and I said, "I think I'm dying."'
Mr Meyer, a veteran who loved spending time outdoors skiing, hiking, and fly fishing, had gone into sepsis, an extreme immune reaction that kills one American every 90 seconds.
Tissues in Mr Meyer's hands, feet, and the tip of his nose mummified, which led to him needing to have both hands and feet amputated
Josh Meyer was home alone with his two young children when he came down with the flu. In a matter of days, the condition spiraled into sepsis
When he was rushed to the hospital, doctors found that in a matter of days, Mr Meyer's flu had turned to the bacterial infection streptococcus pneumonia.
This occurs when the immune system is weak and normally harmless bacteria streptococcus invade the lungs.
This causes the body to go haywire and targets healthy tissues and organs such as the limbs and the lungs and kidneys, known as sepsis.
In Mr Meyer's case, the condition saw his heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys to shut down because sepsis stops blood from flowing to them.
Patients are often put on drugs called vasopressors to push blood back to vital organs. However, doing so cuts off circulation to limbs.
The tissues in Meyer's hands, feet, and the tip of his nose began to mummify and turn black.
Doctors had to amputate both legs and plan to remove both hands as well.
Mr Meyer, a father of a young son and daughter, has credited his medical team for saving his life
