(RightWing.org) – The latest figures from the CDC’s Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network showed that an estimated 31 to 58 million people caught the flu between October 1, 2023, and March 23, 2024. Fourteen to 27 million people visited a healthcare professional about their illnesses, and 350,000 to 720,000 required hospitalization. Sadly, a Colorado man had to undergo life-altering surgery after his severe case of the flu went septic.
On March 27, CBS News Colorado reported that doctors removed both of Boulder resident Josh Meyer’s legs, and he will eventually lose both hands due to a severe case of flu that became septic. Sepsis is the body’s response to a significant infection, triggering a reaction that can lead to organ failure, tissue damage, and death in extreme cases.
Josh developed the flu while his wife, Courtney, was out of town on a business trip in early February. By the time she returned, his flu had grown in severity. Upon her return, Courtney attended to Josh and went upstairs to check on the couple’s two children. When she returned to check on Josh again, he had turned blue and was speaking incoherently. Josh recounted telling his wife that he thought he was dying.
At that point, Courtney rushed Josh to the hospital, where they determined that his flu had mutated into pneumonia and streptococcus. Additionally, it had turned septic and attacked his kidneys, lungs, and heart. That’s when doctors at the UC Health University Hospital in nearby Aurora decided to amputate his lower extremities.
Josh credits the medical staff at US Health for saving his life, stating that he “wouldn’t be here today… without all the help from a cardiothoracic surgeon,” doctors, nurses, and critical care unit staffers. He also praised the “outpouring of love” he has received from friends, family members, and strangers. He thanked them for their kind words, adding that they were “incredible and extremely humbling.”
Despite his grim outcome, Josh is lucky to be alive. At least 1.7 million adults develop sepsis annually, and a minimum of 350,000 adults requiring hospitalization die during their stay or are released to hospice care. Roughly a third of hospital fatalities involve septic patients.
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