A 40-year-old man has revealed how a simple burn to his thumb led to a double leg amputation.
In December 2024, Max Armstrong headed out on a week-long camping trip to Colorado with a bunch of friends, completely unaware that the trip would end with him spending six days in a coma.
While camping, the US native burnt his thumb after grabbing the wrong part of the skillet, causing damage to the digit.
"I grabbed a skillet wrong and my thumb touched the hot part," Armstrong explained. "I could feel it burning as I moved it to the table, but I didn't want to drop it.
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"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 finishing up cooking, he then cleaned his wound, bandaged it up and continued enjoying his holiday - but a couple of days later, Armstrong began to notice that one of his legs 'started to swell up'.
He initially brushed it off as he didn't think the pain was that 'significant' at the time, even believing that he might have unknowingly 'hurt his ankle at some point'.
By 7 December, Max and his friends packed up their tents and prepared to head home.
It was then that one of the outdoorsman's friends suggested he seek treatment after noticing that his toenails were turning purple.
Baffled as to why his lower limbs were swelling up, Armstrong headed to the AdventHealth Parker Hospital.
"At this point, the burn on my thumb had become pretty ugly; it had turned black and looked like it was eating away at my thumb," the adventurer said.
As he sat down to discuss his bizarre symptoms with doctors, the business owner explained that his eyes began 'rolling back in his head' while he started 'talking nonsense'.
Medics then realised that strep A bacteria had infiltrated the burn on his thumb and had quickly developed into sepsis - which can be life-threatening if it is not treated properly.
Armstrong was then transported to AdventHealth Porter, which had facilities better suited to his needs, before doctors placed him into an induced coma for six days.
His loved ones were told to prepare for the worst, but miraculously, Armstrong regained consciousness on 13 December.
"Everyone was very happy to see me," he said. "The doctors told them that I might not make it; there was a lot of concern that I would never wake up.
"My family was extremely happy. I could hear them cheering and then the nurses came in and started cleaning me up."
But the mood of elation quickly disintegrated when Armstrong noticed that his feet were both 'completely black', while doctors informed him they would need to amputate his limbs.
He explained that while he was in the coma, the sepsis had completely eaten away at his feet and had started spreading to his legs - meaning they couldn't be saved.
So, on 23 December, Armstrong underwent a three-hour procedure to amputate both of his legs before spending a month recovering in hospital.
Speaking of the moment he roused after the surgery, he said: "Initially, when I woke up, I thought my legs were still ther,e and then I came to realise that they weren't.
"I felt down my leg and realised that my legs weren't there. I asked the nurse, and she confirmed that I had my legs amputated.
"She told me that my family was waiting for me and kept on reminding me of them, which anchored me."
With this motivation, Armstrong then left the hospital on 14 January to attend the Sky Ridge Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation clinic in Colorado, where he spent another 16 days.
He will now have to rely on a wheelchair for the rest of his life - but is keen to become a pro at triceps and shoulder exercises, which will help with his mobility, describing them as his 'lifeline'.
"It was a hunting trip with friends that turned into a bit of a nightmare," Armstrong said of his ordeal. "Sadly, dinner was enough for the burn to get strep A."
Topics: Health
Brenna Cooper