My name is Andrew Chant and I'm a survivor of Necrotizing Fasciitis. I'm 30 years old and live in Queensland, Australia. I've now been home from hospital a month and wanted to share my story with you all in the hope that someone finds comfort and understanding from reading about my experience. I must say that I have benefited greatly from reading the stories of others on this site while recovering from this insidious disease.

My problems began in March 2010 when I had an ingrown hair follicle in the crease of my right leg. I am a Type II Diabetic and at that time had fairly poor diabetic control. The hair follicle gave me a little discomfort but nothing significant. I began feeling unwell around Sunday the 7th and by Wednesday the 10th of March the hair follicle had developed into a boil. Not wasting anytime I immediately made an appointment to see my Doctor who promptly inspected the boil, declared it infected and prescribed me antibiotics. Over the next two days the boil grew steadily more painful and finally burst on the evening of Friday the 12th. My Doctor had expected that this may occur so I wasn't unduly worried. By Sunday the 14th however the pain had increased to where I couldn't sit down for more than a few minutes at a time. I became increasingly more disoriented, was running a high temperature and was extremely thirsty. After some encouragement from my wife and mother decided to make an appointment with the After-Hours Clinic at my local Private Hospital.

After waiting about an hour in the waiting room I simply couldn't take the pain of sitting on the area any longer and asked if I could lie while I waited to be seen by the doctor working in the clinic. Another 30 minutes or so later I was seen by the doctor and admitted to hospital. The Private Hospital was a good but small hospital with limited staff and resources. I felt sure though they'd get to the bottom of what was going on. I really have no memory of the Monday or Tuesday following my admittance. My wife and parents told me that I experienced a lot of pain and that my Blood Glucose levels were very high (27.0 mmol/l). I remember waking up on the afternoon of Wednesday the 17th and feeling extremely sick. I was hyperventilating from severe acidosis and was extremely distressed. I was told that they were still waiting on test results that had been performed over the previous two days. Early in the afternoon however a nurse made a shocking discovery. There was now a hole in the crease of my other leg. When a finger was placed over the new hole gas was expelled out of the original site. A specialist was immediately called. He recognized immediately that I had gas gangrene stemming from Necrotizing Fasciitis. My scrotum had swelled to the size of a grapefruit and now all visitors had to be gowned and masked. The nearby General Hospital is a University Hospital and it was decided immediately that I be transferred there for urgent debridement surgery. After finding a surgeon at the General Hospital an ambulance was called to transfer me the five minutes between hospitals. The ambulance arrived two and a half hours later after a communication mix-up caused them to refuse to transport me. I arrived at the General Hospital in the evening of Wednesday the 17th and was immediately prepped for theatre. This would be last time I'd be conscious for a week.

In those two weeks I was worked on by an extremely skilled team of surgeons and nurses in the Intensive Care Unit. All together I had around 8 debridement surgeries. There was a large open wound on the side of my leg where the boil had presented itself. It stretched for almost the entire crease. I also had a large section of tissue taken from the crease of my other leg. I also had about a third of my scrotum removed. I experienced no major organ failure during this time and began responding well to my IV antibiotics. I was briefly brought out of sedation atone point however my blood pressure began to drop and I became highly distressed so I was given another few days of sedation. I began to come around on Wednesday the 17th. I can only remember images and voices from the previous week. I had tubes coming from just about every part of my body - a triple lumen CVC, an arterial line for blood gas testing, a rectal tube to keep the wounds clean, a feeding tube, a catheter and the now famous Vac Dressing. Towards the end of my stay in ICU I had another couple of surgeries to begin closing my wounds. I became stronger over the next few days as I came to grips with what had occurred.

On Friday the 19th I was able to stand for a few seconds and it was decided that I be moved to the Surgical Ward. It was here that I would have another three surgeries to change dressings and close up my still open wounds. The second of these would be a skin graft which proved to be very successful. Over the next few weeks I worked hard to regain my strength. My wounds also were healing well and by the time I was discharged on April 15 I was left with only two small(ish) open wounds. My wife continues to dress then - I am told they look better every day. At one stage I was only given a 25% chance of making it through but all of my major organs did me proud and didn't fail. I lost a fair amount of tissue and will have significant scarring. My scrotum had to be stretched and remodeled I feel very lucky however to escape with everything important intact. Without the support of my wife and family I fear I might not have been so lucky. All of the staff that worked on me were fantastic and they should be extremely satisfied with the work they did and the outcome that they achieved. To all of you out there who are recovering or who are fighting this awful disease, I want you to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Contracting NF is not always fatal & it is possible to survive with minimal damage. If anyone out there would like to contact me please feel free.