A harrowing story, as well as some images that are definitely not for the faint-hearted.
A man from Cork has revealed that he almost lost his leg due to a flesh-eating bacteria known as Necrotizing Fasciitis.
36-year-old Robbie Walsh was told that he had, at worst, a 25% chance of survival, and that in a best-case scenario situation, he would lose his entire leg to the bacteria.
However, the doctors in the Mercy Hospital in Cork were able to save most of his limb.
Walsh was forced into emergency surgery, despite feeling like there was little wrong with him, and was told that the aim was to save his life, not his limb.
His wife was told to get the family’s affairs in order, while Walsh himself said that he didn’t have time to actually react to any of the bad news.
Speaking on the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s RedFM, Walsh said that he had a total of eight operations.
Walsh doesn’t believe that he was bitten by a fly, saying: “I think it was a little cut. The doctors checked me all over. They were looking at me like I was a little experiment… I couldn’t know for sure.”
He described the work of the staff in Mercy Hospital as “magic”, and said that he is now learning to walk again.
He said: “I’m the luckiest unluckiest man. I am very unlucky, but I’m lucky in the same breath.”
Images of Walsh’s leg can be seen below, although you should be warned, as we said previously, they are definitely not for the faint-hearted.
It should also be pointed out that he referred to the below images as the “mild ones”…
Walsh referred to the above pictures as the “mild ones”.
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