Flesh-eating Bacteria Victim Tells His Story

An article published by WebMd explains what necrotizing fasciities is which helps a man from Farmersburg, Iowa., better understand his flesh-eating disease.

When James Duball banged his leg he didn't expect to be in bed for over a year. Duball, 65, is currently recuperating at the Great River Care Center, McGregor, Iowa, after being attacked by a flesh-eating bacteria.

After a Saturday night out last July, celebrating a birthday, Duball woke up with a painful leg that was red in color. He thought that he had a blood clot as they run in his family so he went to the hospital in Elkader and then to Iowa City.

"I bumped my leg on a trailer hitch on the back of a pickup and that may be what caused the bacteria to get in," he said. "Doctor's don't know what caused it. I laid there for three and half months and when I woke up they told me I had a flesh eating disorder and they had taken skin graphs from my stomach. When I looked down at my leg all that I could see was bone; it was a peg leg," he explained.

For about nine months Duball was on oxygen, he had a tracheotomy, a tube in his throat to breath and a button that he could press if he wanted to talk. Doctors eventually got the disease under control with antibiotics.

Duball had a printout from WebMD that explained exactly what this flesh-eating bacteria is. "The technical term is necrotizing fasciities, which is a rare bacterial infection that can destroy skin and the soft tissues beneath it, including the fat and the tissue covering the muscles (fascia)," WebMD.

This is a very rare disease, so there is no need for anyone to panic the next time that they hit their leg on the trailer hitch! It is reported in WebMD that, "About 30 percent of those who develop necrotizing fasciitis die from the disease."

Duball is one of the survivors of the disease, he is well on his way to recovery and even takes his wheelchair down to the bar for a drink.

"I'm getting stronger, I'm working out, I had some parallel bars made which I have in my room," he said.
The bars were made in Postville, Iowa, and Jim Wagner, of Monona, and Greg Adams, also of Monona, who both work at Birdnow, put the bars together for him.