After contracting a flesh-eating disease and losing feeling in both legs, a 6-year-old Pike County boy was discharged from the hospital Monday following four different surgeries to stop the bacteria’s spreading.
A few days before Thanksgiving, 6-year-old Chance Wade complained about difficulty walking, his mother Melissa Evans said.
She took him to the hospital, but he went undiagnosed for three days.
“There weren’t any broken bones,” Evans said. “He tested positive for a strep throat, but three days passed and he was still limping. We could not figure out what was going on with him, so we took him to the emergency room.”
Doctors administered a scan and discovered Wade had a rare condition called necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as the flesh-eating disease, which was eating his leg from the inside out.
“It’s the fastest, most aggressive flesh-eating virus and it spread from his thigh all the way past his knee and even spread to his other leg,” Evans said. “You can see how big his wound (from the surgeries) is.”
Evans said she didn’t know how her son contracted the disease, but the bacteria can enter the body through a scratch, wound or any other kind of break in the skin.
Prior to the diagnosis, Evans said Wade didn’t suffer any wounds or injuries that she was aware of. But according to the Centers for Disease Control, the flesh-eating disease is commonly caused by group A Streptococcus, the same type of bacteria that causes strep throat, which Evans said Wade tested positive for. Other types of bacteria are also associated with the disease.
“He was a healthy boy. All he did was run into the couch, but he started limping right after,” she said. “He could not walk, he had no feeling in his leg.”
Wade had been in Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson since Thanksgiving and was released Monday after doctors managed to stop the bacteria from spreading.
He is bedridden and will not be able to walk for at least four months.
“It’s overwhelming for him because he was healthy and he’s trying to get in the spirit of just laying down,” Evans said. “He’s on home help now. They have a regular IV going through him at home and he’ll need physical therapy, but right now he can’t put any weight on his leg at all. It hurts for him to even sit in a wheelchair.”
The flesh-eating disease spreads fast and quick treatment is essential, according to CDC. The disease is not contagious and can be prevented with good wound care.
Symptoms of the flesh-eating disease showed up within 48 hours, Evans said.
