Steven Spinale, a 36-year-old man, had a 4% chance of surviving an infection when he pulled out ingrown hairs in his groin area in the US.
The man was diagnosed with sepsis, an infection that occurs when the immune system overreacts and begins to damage the body’s tissues and organs.
His sister Michelle shared the man’s entire process on the social network Tiktok. “He was turned away by several hospitals because they thought he was making it up,” he said.
“All they could find was that he had internal bleeding somewhere. Little did we know that this would be the least of our worries,” he added.
According to MirrorA rare bacterium was discovered in Steven’s blood, which began to damage all of his organs. “He contracted a rare bacteria that was destroying his body and shutting down all his organs,” his sister said.
Over time, the person developed a number of problems. He developed pneumonia in both lungs, contracted influenza A and even suffered a “minor stroke.” Doctors also discovered that the infection had reached Stephen’s heart and “destroyed” it.
According to the same source, the man could not be operated on because his condition was too severe, so he was intubated and put into an artificial coma. After spending a month in a coma and undergoing several courses of treatment, he emerged without brain damage and is recovering.
“I still remember when we were told that Stephen was brain dead and that we had to take him off life support. What a journey,” his sister said.