Colorado dad-of-two has both feet amputated and nose mummified after FLU led to near-deadly sepsis

A man in Colorado had both hands and feet amputated after the flu left him with near-fatal sepsis.

Josh Meyer was alone with his two young children in February when he came down with the flu. He thought nothing of it and struggled with it while his wife, Courtney, was away on business.

But when his wife came home that Friday, “it was really bad,” Mr. Meyer said CBS Colorado.

‘I was blue. I was talking incoherently and then I looked at her and said, “I think I’m dying.”

Mr. Meyer, a veteran who enjoyed spending time outdoors skiing, hiking and fly fishing, had been stricken with sepsis, an extreme immune reaction that kills one American every 90 seconds.

When he was rushed to hospital, doctors found that within days Mr Meyer’s flu had turned into the bacterial infection streptococcal pneumonia.

This happens when the immune system is weak and normally harmless bacteria streptococci enter the lungs.

This causes the body to go into confusion and target healthy tissues and organs such as the limbs, lungs and kidneys, known as sepsis.

In Mr. Meyer’s case, the condition caused his heart, lungs, liver and kidneys to shut down as sepsis prevented blood flow to them.

Patients are often given medications called vasopressors to push blood back to vital organs. Doing so will cut off circulation to the extremities.

The tissues in Meyer’s hands, feet and the tip of his nose began to mummify and turn black.

Doctors had to amputate both legs and planned to remove both hands as well.

According to the CDC, sepsis affects 1.7 million Americans every year.

This kills 350,000 Americans every year, or one every 90 seconds.

According to the nonprofit Sepsis Alliance, it is the leading cause of death in U.S. hospitals, accounting for 35 percent of hospital deaths.

But 34 percent of Americans have never heard of it, according to Sepsis Alliance.

Sepsis Alliance has also found that cases are increasing, which may be partly due to a lack of cohesive care.

The US does not have a national sepsis protocol, and CDC data from 2023 found that more than 1,400 hospitals – about a quarter – in the US do not have a sepsis program.

Sepsis can be very similar to the flu, making it extremely difficult to catch early.

There is no single test, but doctors look for signs of infections with measures such as blood tests.

For every hour that treatment is delayed, the risk of death increases by four to nine percent.

Dr. Steven Simpson, professor of medicine at the University of Kansas and chairman of the Sepsis Alliance, previously told DailyMail.com that urgent national action is needed to prevent millions more unnecessary deaths and life-destroying injuries.

“Doctors are not getting enough information to help them diagnose sepsis,” he said.

“There is no catchy phrase to help doctors and hospitals pay attention to this, as there is in other countries.”

‘Every hospital in the country should have a sepsis committee, a sepsis quality improvement program and organize their facility so that it is ready to detect and treat sepsis.’

“Currently that is absolutely not the case.”

Mr. Meyer credits his medical team at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora for saving his life.

“Without all the help from a cardiothoracic surgeon, intensive care units, all the nurses, doctors, physicians, everyone, you know, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said.

In addition to having his hands amputated, Mr. Meyer will have to stay in a long-term care facility to learn how to adapt to his lost limbs.

The Meyer family is raising money for medical expenses GoFundMe page.

“Josh is a warrior of a man. He continues to defy the odds. His perseverance, determination and steadfastness are second to none,” Ms. Meyer wrote on the page.

“He’s with us and still fighting.”