A Texas man has died from flesh-eating bacteria after he went hunting wearing flip-flops instead of his usual wading boots.
Randy Bunch, 66, died within a week of being infected, his family said. He eventually passed away on June 8.
A few days earlier, the seasoned fisherman had reeled in a crab trap in his hometown of Freeport, in shallow water near a boat ramp he had frequented for years.
He did so in flip-flops, his grieving daughter said Monday, a decision that proved fatal, as he already had a small cut in his foot.
The scrape quickly became infected with a deadly flesh-eating bacteria called vibrio, which is common in the Gulf.
Scroll down for the video:
Randy Bunch, 66, died within a week of contracting the vibrio bacteria, his family said. He eventually succumbed to the infection on June 8.
A previous scrape he had became infected with the flesh-eating bacteria, which is commonly found in the Gulf. The infection in Bunch’s leg spread in the days before his death
“It was a small cut on the top of his foot,” said Brandy Pendergraft, Bunch’s adult daughter, I LOVE in a seated interview.
“I mean, it wasn’t even an inch, it was tiny.”
“It shouldn’t have happened like this,” she continued, tears in her eyes. “He should still be here. Just a little longer.”
The bacteria that killed her father, she says, was vibrio. The case became so serious that within days Bunch was hooked up to a breathing tube.
This year alone, 11 cases of the often fatal infection have been reported in Texas as temperatures warm and rainfall reduces the salinity of the state’s bay.
This creates an ideal storm for the bacteria to thrive in. A storm that Bunch and his family failed to notice until it was too late.
“It’s literally like the breath is sucked out of you,” Brandy said, still reeling from the sequence of days two months later. “You wish you could change it and go back.”
The bacteria causes two types of infections: one that affects the digestive system and one that affects the skin.
Brandy Pendergraft, Bunch’s adult daughter, spoke to KHOU in an interview Monday warning others about the dangers of fishing with unprotected feet
The decision proved fatal for Bunch, who is seen here with his family on the bay he loved so much.
That last one is why Bunch’s leg was covered in bruises and blisters in the days leading up to his death, according to photos, shortly after he started feeling ill a few hours after his crab run.
When he first started feeling sick, before the infection became apparent, Pendergraft remembers thinking her father was having a heart attack.
“He called me because he was having extreme pain on the right side of his body,” she said Monday.
“It sounded like heart attack symptoms, so I told him he should probably go to the emergency room to get it checked out.”
Bunch followed her advice, but the doctors couldn’t immediately find anything abnormal.
The infection had not yet made itself known, but that would change within a day.
The next morning, after his release, “he was completely changed,” Bunch recalled.
‘He had a fever of 40 degrees, was listless, spoke disoriented and had no desire to do anything.’
The photo shows the shallow waters Bunch was wading in when he became infected with the bacteria.
This year alone, 11 cases of the often fatal infection have been reported as the weather warms and the Gulf loses salinity due to rainfall.
Another hospital visit followed, this time to the Texas Medical Center in Houston.
There Bunch’s condition deteriorated rapidly and within half a day he was in serious trouble.
“Less than 12 hours later, from walking and talking to working and still doing the things he loved, he was on a ventilator in the intensive care unit. Now we have to make life-changing decisions,” an emotional Pendergraft said.
After a series of tests and much turmoil, doctors still did not know what was causing the previously healthy man’s illness.
That changed when Pendergraft looked at her father’s leg, which was then beginning to show signs of inflammation – signs that quickly spread throughout Bunch’s body
“I saw his foot and thought, ‘Oh, gosh. Could this be the flesh-eating bacteria? The vibrio?'” Pendergraft recalled the realization.
Doctors soon discovered that she was right, but by then it was too late.
“The blisters took over his whole body,” his daughter said. “It spread. Just like a fire.”
Bunch, pictured here with his daughter a few years ago, died within a week of stepping into the water, she said
“All we have left are things,” his daughter said, before issuing a stern warning. “Memories. We’ll never be the same after this.”
Bunch died within days and even within a week of entering the water.
“All we have left is stuff,” Pendergraft said, before delivering a stern warning. “Memories. We’ll never be the same after this.”
“It’s real,” she continued, referring to the dangers posed by bacteria like vibrio. “It’s going to get you. It’s going to get everyone.”
She said the number of cases this year is 12 times higher than last year and urged authorities to issue more warnings to anyone entering the water.
“You don’t see a lot of signs,” she explained. “You might see a few here and there, but it’s not as widespread as it should be.
“I want to create more awareness for people who are not from here and come here on holiday,” she added.
“Yes, we want tourists and we want people to enjoy it, but as a state we have to do more, also for the local people.”
Bunch is survived by his wife Dawn Perkins, his two adult daughters, and several stepchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins.
“Randy was an avid outdoorsman and found peace and joy in nature,” his obituary reads. “He will be greatly missed.”