Tiny cut plunges Victorian man into life-and-death battle with flesh-eating bacteria
Gippsland dad Jeff Beck has undergone repeated surgeries to defeat the killer bacteria ravaging his flesh. Facebook
A Victorian man is fighting for his life after an unassuming cut on his finger became infected with a deadly flesh-eating bacteria.
His family said labourer Jeff Beck, from Moe, in south-east Victoria, has had to have a quarter of the flesh on his torso removed to cut out infected tissue.
Mr Beck, 55, started feeling flu-like symptoms on November 3 and a day later was taken to a local hospital in Traralgon where he was diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis.
The father-of-four has since been taken to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where he has undergone several surgeries to remove necrotic tissue.
“Jeff has so far had a quarter of his torso removed to cut out the dead tissue,” his family wrote on a crowdfunding page, set up to cover medical bills and other expenses.
“They are now giving him hyperbaric chamber treatments twice a day to help stop the infection spreading and to also treat his large open wound.
“This was caused simply from a small cut on his finger which he did at work — something that happens almost daily when you are doing physical labour.”
That online campaign has already raised more than $20,000.
The infected leg of a victim with early-stage necrotising fasciitis victim. If not surgically removed it will destroy flesh to the bone.
Mr Beck was put into a medically induced coma on November 6, and was only taken off the sedatives 10 days later.
“I am totally blown away by how strong Dad is,” his daughter Stephanie Beck wrote in an update on November 16.
“I went and sat with Dad and he could respond to my questions by blinking.”
Necrotising fasciitis is often fatal to those who contract it, but Mr Beck’s family is confident of him making a recovery.
“Nurses say he is absolutely smashing it,” Ms Beck wrote.
“He would obviously be very scared and confused waking up as he will have no idea what has happened to him — the last time he was awake he thought he just had the flu.
“Although it is going to be a very, very long road ahead with Dad having to undergo several skin grafts — we are all so incredibly grateful for the treatment he has received,” said Ms Beck.
-ABC
