When Steve Overton felt a “sharp prick” on his leg while walking his two dogs in a field last November, he thought very little of it: ‘I was put in an induced coma when a flesh-eating bug attacked my body’.
But within hours he was in excruciating pain, unable to walk and needed to be rushed to A&E where he was later put in an induced coma.
It transpired that the 67-year-old’s body had been attacked by a very rare, “flesh-eating” bug that kills tissue, muscles and organs underneath the skin. Even with treatment, it’s estimated that one or two in every five cases are fatal.
“I can’t believe how quickly I went from feeling very unwell to nearly dying,” recalled Steve, from Rhoose, near Barry. “I firmly believe that I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the hard work, dedication and expertise of the team who looked after me.”
Steve, a lover of sea swimming, cycling and dog walking, said he never thought one of his favourite hobbies would end up nearly killing him. “Two days before I was taken ill I had cycled to the sea and gone for a swim. I felt on top of the world,” he recalled. “My partner Lisa was due to have a baby in the coming weeks so we were focusing on our new arrival. “On that morning, I got up and walked my two collie dogs as I did every day. It was a cloudy day and I walked the dogs through a long-grassed field down to the sea.
“I was wearing long shorts on the walk and I remember feeling a sharp prick on the lower part of my leg while walking through the grass. “For a split second I thought I had been bitten by a spider, but I was always getting scratched while out and about by trees or brambles so I ignored it.”
As he was walking back home, Steve said his knee started hurting as if he had twisted it. “I put it down to me having walked too much,” he said. “By the time I got home the pain was getting worse. I rested a while but the pain wasn’t getting any easier. In fact I started to feel very unwell. “I could literally feel the strength draining from me to the point where I couldn’t hold the yogurt pot that I was eating.”
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