Distraught Mom Warns Parents After Child Left in ER with Flesh-Eating Bacteria
Have you ever been misdiagnosed by a doctor? It’s a horrible feeling.
At first, you have a sense of certainty, an idea that you know what is going to happen and how things will unfold. But as reality fails to adhere to your expectations, that certainty slowly drains away.
Your anxiety starts to grow, and you find yourself wondering awful things like, “Does anyone know what’s wrong with me? Will I actually get better?”
A 6-year-old boy from McComb, Mississippi, had just that experience — and it almost cost him his life. According to Fox News, Chance Wade told his mother he didn’t feel well.
Like any good mom, Melissa Evans paid attention to him and got him medical help. “He was complaining about his leg, (so) we took him to the doctor he tested positive for strep throat, but he was still limping,” she told WJTV.
Does it sound strange that a boy with an achy leg had strep? Well, it sounded odd to Evans, too.
Though Wade’s physician had sent him home, Evans kept an eye on him and when he didn’t improve, she took him to the hospital. The news she got rocked her to the core.
6-year-old Chance Wade is fighting for his life after being diagnosed with Necrotizing Fasciitis, also known as a flesh eating disease– the disease is quickly spreading and she’s hoping for a Christmas miracle. More on how you can help on @WJTV at 10! pic.twitter.com/1AsYxVOCHj
— Margaret-Ann Carter (@MargaretAnnWJTV) December 4, 2018
Chance had more than strep. His body was teeming with necrotizing fasciitis, better known as the flesh-eating disease.
Honestly, it’s no wonder that he got misdiagnosed. According to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences’ Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, necrotizing fasciitis often starts with flu-like symptoms.
It’s also often caused by the Streptococcus bacteria, the same nasty bug that causes strep throat. The database adds, “Although necrotizing fasciitis most frequently develops after trauma that causes a break in the skin, it can also develop after minor trauma that occurs without a break in the skin.”
It’s a fast-acting illness that can kill if not promptly treated. It blisters the skin as it consumes bodily tissues.
Patients in later stages often get soaring fevers, racing hearts and extreme pain. Left untreated, the illness will kill.
Evans was shocked that her son had contracted it. “It can come from many things,” she said. “Just a small cut, an open wound, just a scratch. … The infection had aggressively went (sic) through his whole thigh, all the way to his knee.
“With all this weather changing, and sick babies, and everything going around, just never take anything lightly.”
It didn’t stay there either. Evans learned that it had also spread to Chance’s other leg.
“With all this weather changing and sick babies and everything going around, just never take anything lightly,” she said. “Just continue to pray for me and my baby.”
Chance is expected to survive. A GoFundMe campaign to fund his medical expenses has far outstripped its $1,500 goal, raising more than $10,000.
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