Dylan Riley was out playing frisbee in the sun last October when one little thing caused his life to change forever.
The 31-year-old, a self-described ‘klutz’, tripped over when picking up the disc, causing a small cut on his knee. And his mum, an infectious disease nurse, ruled out an infection at first.
However, this common injury ended up leading to the American having his limbs amputated after being found on ‘death’s doorstep’.
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Two weeks later, Riley woke up feeling like he had the flu – he was sweaty with a fever, his body was aching and he couldn’t stop throwing up. He decided to get in a hot bath to see if that would help, but when he got out, he couldn’t move.
With his roommate ringing an ambulance, he remembers the paramedics asking questions but then, ‘everything went black’.
Once Riley got to the Baptist Integris Hospital, he was diagnosed with the rare, life-threatening infection, streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS). The same bacteria that causes strep throat had gotten into his bloodstream.
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Dr. Bob Schoaps, Medical Director for Specialty Critical Care and Acute Mechanical Circulatory Support at the hospital, told People: “He came into our hospital severely sick, on death's doorstep practically.”
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His organs began shutting down, with doctors having to revive him twice.
Dr. Schoaps added that if Riley had stayed at home for a few more hours that day, ‘it’s very likely he would not have survived’.
He added that the typical survival rate is around 10 percent or less.
Having received the dreaded call that her son was on the brink of death, Trina White said she got to the emergency room and was told: “We don’t have time, do you want to put him on life support or not.”
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After a few days, Riley’s limbs, even the tips of ears, started turning black meaning the skin tissue was dying.
The man doesn’t remember anything about the first five days in hospital and when he did regain consciousness, he knew something was up because his divorced parents were in the room together.
Riley was then told he may have to lose a limb. And while surgeons determined how much they could save, he was dealing with his body peeling ‘like a snake would’ – even his taste buds peeled off.
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His legs were amputated in the week before Christmas 2023, before part of his hands in January.
Over the past year, he’s been doing rehab with his prosthetic legs and has returned to doing some of his favourite hobbies with his mates.
Keeping things light by posting images of himself alongside the Gingerbread man from Shrek, Riley said: "I'm grateful for life. Things could be so different. My family could have been planning a funeral.”
Jess Battison