A 40-year-old man in the US had both his legs amputated after burning his right-hand thumb on a skillet during a camping trip. According to People, Max Armstrong from San Diego was camping with his friends in December 2024 when he burned his thumb on a skillet while cooking pasta for dinner. Initially, he didn't think anything of it. However, as the days went on, his leg started to swell up, his toenails began turning purple, and he was in pain. At the same time, the burn also wasn't healing, despite applying antibiotic cream and bandaging it.
When he started "talking crazy" in his sleep, and his toenails turned purple, "I knew I had to go to the emergency room," Mr Armstrong told the outlet. He revealed that once he got to the emergency room, his eyes started rolling back in his head. Doctors quickly confirmed that Strep A bacteria had gotten into his burn and that quickly developed into sepsis - which can be life-threatening if not treated properly.
"By the end of the night, I was in a medically induced coma," Mr Armstrong said. Doctors told his family that he had progressed to toxic shock syndrome and his body was eating away itself. Doctors told them to be prepared for the possibility that "I wasn't gonna make it," the 40-year-old recalled.
When he woke up from the coma, Mr Armstrong said his feet were both completely black and doctors recommended amputation - telling him they would be impossible to save. "At first I was like, 'No, there's no way they're taking my feet,' " he shared. But when he tried to walk in physical therapy, it was "so painful" that "I started to come around to recognise that the feet weren't gonna be an option to keep," he said.
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Mr Armstrong had a three-hour operation to amputate both of his legs below the knees. After more than a month recovering in hospital, he was then able to go back home and learn how to live life in a wheelchair.
"I've seen the entirety of this process as a spiritual journey. It was not something that I wanted to do, but I knew that it had to be done," he said.
Mr Armstrong revealed he was on a hunting trip with friends that turned into a nightmare. "I didn't think much of it as I have gotten burns, scrapes and cuts from living in the outdoors and being outdoors my whole life. After dinner, I cleaned up the burn, put a bandage on it and left it. Sadly, dinner was enough for the burn to get strep A," he said.
