A man has told of his horror after what he thought was a 'minor' burn on his thumb led to him losing both of his legs.
Max Armstrong spent six days in a coma following the near-fatal incident he had while camping with his pals in Kiowa, Colorado, back in December.
The 40-year-old had headed out into the wilderness for a week with his friends for a fun outdoor getaway when he burnt his thumb while cooking pasta for dinner.
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"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.
"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 before bandaging it up - 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, and he believed he might have unknowingly 'hurt his ankle at some point'.
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However, by 7 December he was ready to pack up his tent and call it a day.
"I decided to head home and my buddy suggested we go to the hospital," the outdoors lover said. "At that point, my toenails started turning purple and the swelling had increased."
Baffled as to why his lower limbs were swelling up, Armstrong headed to the AdventHealth Parker hospital.
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"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.
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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."
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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 it was impossible for them to 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 there 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."
A GoFundMe has been organised to help fund Armstrong's road to recovery, which you can check out here.
Olivia Burke