A devastated widow has shared how she lost her husband to flesh-eating bacteria after he paddled in calf-deep water at Virginia beach.
Joyce D’Arcy and her husband, Derek, took a trip to the classic vacation spot in August.
They waded in the water and did not even go up to their knees.
But that was all it took for a bacteria called vibrio vulnificus to make it into a small, open cut on Derek’s leg.
‘Virginia Beach was our absolute favorite place to go,’ D’Arcy told WTSP. ‘So its just so sad that the best place that we had is where he got sick.’
Four days after the couple’s trip to the beach, D’Arcy noticed a purple stripe on her husband’s leg.
The husband and wife sent his blood for testing, but by the time the test came back positive for vibrio another three days later, the infection had already spread across both his legs, causing severe damage.
Derek had a weakened immune system due to being on dialysis, which D’Arcy believes contributed to the rapid spread of the infection.
Doctors determined that the only way to save Derek was by amputating his legs to stop the infection from spreading. Sadly, they didn’t act quickly enough and just 12 hours after the surgery, the vibrio bacteria had spread Derek’s chest, hands and head.
At that point, ‘we knew we lost the fight,’ D’Arcy said. Her husband would die around a week later.
Joyce D’Arcy and her husband, Derek, took a seemingly harmless trip to Virginia Beach where the husband was infected with a flesh-eating bacteria that would take his life
Virginia Beach (pictured) was the couple’s ‘absolute favorite place to go’
Vibrio infections are surprisingly common, and experts say one in five people who are infected will die
The widow hopes her story can serve as a warning to others about how quickly a person can die to the aggressive, flesh-eating bacteria and that awareness can save another family from experiencing a similar tragic and unexpected loss.
Cleveland Clinic doctors say vibrio is more common than people think, especially in the warmer months of May through October.
Infections happen fairly often. Most people survive but symptoms are very painful and many sufferers must face having limbs amputated.
Last month, cases of vibrio infection rose into the double digits along the Gulf Coast and further up Atlantic Coast. Experts believe the rising infections are caused by warming waters as the bacteria thrives in waters between 68 degrees Fahrenheit and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Earlier this month, a mother was left fighting for her life and almost lost her leg after contracting vibrio when she swam at Quietwater Beach in Florida.
Also earlier this month, a father contracted a vibrio infection after a fishing trip, which caused serious swelling and a burning sensation in his foot and ankle. It took three surgeries for doctors to stop the spread of the infection.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that one in five people who are infected with vibrio will die.
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