Dog owner who paid a terrible price after getting sepsis from pet
A PSYCHIATRIST lost both legs and nearly all his fingers and needed facial reconstruction after a tiny bite from his dog led to potentially deadly sepsis.
Jaco Nel, 52, was playing with his spaniel Harvey when he noticed a small cut on his hand, but after washing the wound thought nothing more of it.
Two weeks later, however, he fell ill with sepsis, the life-threatening condition which is the leading cause of avoidable deaths in the UK, killing at least 44,000 people a year.
As doctors tried to save him, his legs began to turn black as gangrene set in, and he went on to lose all the fingers on his right hand and one on his left.
In addition Mr Nel was left with facial disfigurement which he is still struggling to come to terms with.
After learning Harvey was carrying the infection which almost killed him, he took the tough decision to have him put down in case anyone else fell ill.
The Daily Mail’s End the Sepsis Scandal campaign has battled to raise awareness of the condition which is notoriously hard to diagnose until it is too late and prevent needless deaths.
Yesterday Mr Nel recalled how he had been playing with Harvey at his home in Chorlton, Manchester. ‘ He nicked my hand,’ he said. ‘It was tiny. I cleaned it and forgot about it.’
Mr Nel, who treats dementia patients, was at work around two weeks later when his whole body began aching. ‘I thought it was the flu so I went home,’ he said. ‘I texted my partner and said I had the flu and was going to bed.
‘The next day I was very ill and confused. I wasn’t able to ring work and my secretary started to worry. When my partner Michael got home after work I couldn’t stand up, my hands didn’t work properly and I struggled to speak. That’s when he called the paramedics.’
The paramedics noticed red blotches all over his skin – a symptom of sepsis – and immediately gave him antibiotics.
When they arrived at A&E Mr Nel collapsed and was taken to intensive care where he was placed in an induced coma.
Those who go into septic shock have around a 20 per cent chance of survival. The infection interferes with the body’s bloodclotting mechanism, with many smaller clots cutting off circulation and causing blood pressure to drop dangerously low.
Mr Nel’s kidneys started to fail and his legs began to turn black. ‘I was looking at my black, gangrenous legs and fingers. I knew I was going to lose everything. I could tell the tissue was dead.’ Four months later he had both legs amputated below the knee. He lost part or all of each finger on his right hand and one on his left, and needed reconstructive surgery on his face.
With prosthetic legs, he has been able to learn to walk again and live independently. But the facial disfigurement has been difficult to come to terms with.
‘I am very reluctant to go out because I am so self-conscious,’ he said. ‘While it hasn’t stopped me completely from living independently, it has damaged my confidence. The hardest part has been accepting that there is nothing I can do about it.’
Doctors were initially baffled by what had caused the infection. Three weeks later, tests revealed a bacteria that lives in a dog’s mouth. It meant Harvey was carrying the bacteria in his saliva and the couple eventually decided to have him put down.
‘It was very sad but we were worried about the dog infecting someone else,’ Mr Nel said. ‘What if he had infected a child? It could have been terrible.’
It is now 18 months since Mr Nel contracted sepsis. And, while he is still coming to terms with it, there are rays of hope.
‘My friendships have become much stronger,’ he said. ‘I have realised I have a lot of inner strength. I have a lot more to give to my patients in terms of empathy. I hope to eventually show people it is possible to overcome so much in life.’
‘I knew I was going to lose everything’