In a rare condition, a 31-year-old man in the United States was forced to get his nose removed after catching a fungal infection that was eating into his face. According to The Sun, Brandon Boothby from Florida was diagnosed with a two-in-a-million medical condition that left his body with little immunity to fight off serious infections. He developed a fungal infection in his nose which began eating away at his flesh. The infection was just weeks away from reaching his brain and eyes, leaving the 31-year-old no choice but to have his nose removed.
Mr Boothby said if his nose hadn't been removed, the infection would have "reached my eyes within a few weeks and my brain within a month". According to The Sun, he revealed that his ordeal began when he developed flu-like symptoms, which "progressively got worse" to the point where he was so weak he was passing out.
After going to the hospital, tests revealed that the 31-year-old had an autoimmune condition known as severe aplastic anaemia. "It's such a severe disease that if someone sneezes around you, you could get a fatal infection," he said.
Notably, aplastic anaemia is a rare condition that occurs when your body stops producing enough new blood cells. Treatment can include immunosuppressants, chemotherapy, blood transfusions, or blood and bone marrow transplants.
After learning about the rare condition, the race was on to find a lifesaving bone marrow transplant for him. While waiting, he returned home to his daughter and wife. But soon after, he developed a fever and went back to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal fungal infection.
"It wasn't hard to breathe when my nose got infected; it was just the local pain and swelling that was alarming," Mr Boothby explained. He said that the doctors performed five surgeries on his nose and face in an attempt to "chase" the fungus and stop it in its destructive tracks. "It was just going deeper and deeper into my face and started to get into my left eye. The next place it would go would be my brain, which would be the end game," he said.
Two weeks later, Mr Boothby said that doctors decided that they had to remove the nose along with part of the eye socket to stop the fungus and save his life, the outlet reported. The 31-year-old has since had a prosthetic nose fitted.
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But this wasn't the end of his ordeal as after a bone marrow transplant, Mr Boothby developed what is known as graft versus host syndrome. This means that his new, healthy blood cells that were produced as a result of the bone marrow transplant were attacking his own body. Mr Boothby ended up extremely malnourished, with eczema-like symptoms and inflammation of his organs as a result. He was even at risk of having part of his intestine removed in a colostomy due to the severe reaction.
Luckily, because he was fit before, doctors decided to help him heal naturally, and it worked. Now, he's telling his story to spread the word about the condition a year and a half later.
"They (doctors) told me it could take up to three years to heal completely, but it's been almost two now, and it's going extremely well. While I still need to go to for monthly checkups, I've returned to full-time duty as a firefighter," he said.
"Now, I wake up with a whole different mindset. I appreciate everything, even if it's just standing outside and enjoying the weather or being with my daughter," Mr Boothby added.
