A fitness-conscious father from Grimsby has revealed how a seemingly ordinary sore throat spiralled into a life-threatening battle with a flesh-eating bacteria, resulting in traumatic surgery and medical costs approaching half a million pounds.
A Routine Workout That Led to a Nightmare
Mark Brooks, a 53-year-old father of three, always took pride in his health. However, in December 2023, he decided to push through an intense workout despite suffering from a severe sore throat and fasting. During the session, he tweaked his elbow, an injury he initially dismissed. Soon after, he developed a fever and woke up in agony. "It felt like I’d smashed my elbow really hard on the bedside table," Mark recalls. "It was killing and I couldn’t use it."
His condition rapidly deteriorated with vomiting and worsening fever. He initially blamed a combination of bad luck, flu, and potential food poisoning. Unbeknownst to him, necrotising fasciitis – a rare but severe bacterial infection with a mortality rate of 20-40% – was already destroying his skin and muscle tissue.
The Race to Diagnosis and Gruelling Treatment
Realising his mental clarity was fading, Mark knew he had to act. "I remember sitting on the carpet thinking that my decision making capacity was diminishing," he said. He reached hospital, where he was first diagnosed with compartment syndrome. The truth emerged when a large, unexplained bruise appeared, prompting emergency surgery.
Doctors discovered the flesh-eating bacteria was ravaging his arm and had entered his bloodstream, causing multi-organ failure and kidney shutdown. "I was in the ICU for a week," Mark stated. "They told me I had multi-organ failure. That sounded really bad." The damage was so extensive that at one point, you could see straight through his arm.
Over nine weeks in hospital, Mark endured 25 operations. Surgeons removed dead skin, the brachialis muscle, much of his tricep, a finger flexor, and connective tissue. A vacuum pack kept the limb viable while they fought the infection. Skin grafts from his leg and back followed, which Mark described as "the worst pain of my life."
"They removed a muscle from my back and swung it around to rebuild my arm," he explained. "Then they removed fat from my stomach and packed it into my arm to support the exposed bone." This radical reconstructive approach, costing around £450,000 (covered by insurance), saved his limb. "If I’d gone to an orthopaedic surgeon, they would have amputated," Mark believes.
Lasting Trauma and a Message of Awareness
The physical ordeal has left deep psychological scars, with Mark developing PTSD. He focuses on gratitude to cope. "The antidote was gratitude. Thinking about what I still had, not what I’d lost," he said. "Necrotising fasciitis has a mortality rate of around 20% — but in my case it was closer to 50% so I’m just thankful to be alive and have all my limbs."
Mark now hopes his story will raise vital awareness of the infection's symptoms, which can be mistaken for flu. Key signs include intense pain disproportionate to an injury, swelling, fever, and later, vomiting, diarrhoea, confusion, and discoloured skin blotches. "I was fine and completely healthy, and it came completely out of the blue," he added. "And then all of a sudden, I’m fighting for my life. It was ridiculous."
