A New Jersey man contracted a rare flesh-eating bacteria while crabbing in the waters of the Maurice River in his home state in early July.
On Aug. 29, Angel Perez, 60, had portions of both his legs amputated. This operation comes two weeks after having had his arms and forearms removed, and a month after the initial amputation of his fingers.
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Perez, an avid fisherman from Millville, had a favourite spot to collect crab, which he went to often without any sign of contracting an illness or bacteria.
“That’s his spot to go,” daughter Dilena Perez-Dilan, said to Fox 29. “He goes early in the morning, he tries to beat everyone before they get there because that’s his spot.”
But shortly after his trip to the river on July 2, Perez-Dilan said they noticed a swelling in her father’s right ankle and he also had some scratches on his leg. When he started to complain about soreness, they took him to urgent care.
That’s when doctors discovered that Perez had contracted vibrio necrotizing fasciitis, a rare form of flesh-eating bacteria that’s most often present in coastal waters. It predominantly affects people with a compromised immune system or underlying disease, especially liver disease.
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Perez has Parkinson’s disease, which means he was especially vulnerable to an infection due to an already weakened immune system. In the process of his treatment, he also developed kidney complications, which required doctors to put him on dialysis. However, his daughter said that his kidneys are “definitely looking better,” and they’re hopeful that he will be taken off dialysis soon.
This week’s operation saw his legs amputated from just below the kneecaps, and more was taken from the right leg.
“Everything went well,” Perez-Dilan said to NJ.com. “His vital signs are good.”
She also said that his doctors believe “Angel wants to be here a little longer.”
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