A Texas man died from flesh-eating bacteria after going crabbing in flip-flops instead of his usual fishing waders.
Randy Bunch, 66, died a week after being infected, his family said, and finally succumbed on June 8.
Days earlier, the seasoned fisherman retrieved a crab trap in his hometown of Freeport, in shallow water near a boat ramp he had frequented for years.
She did it in flip-flops, her grieving daughter said Monday, a decision that proved fatal because she already had a small cut on her foot.
That scrape quickly became infected with a deadly flesh-eating bacteria called vibrio, which is commonly found in the Gulf.
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Randy Bunch, 66, died a week after being infected with the vibrio bacteria, his family said, and ultimately succumbed to the resulting infection on June 8.
A scrape he had suffered earlier became infected with the flesh-eating bacteria, which is commonly found in the Gulf. The infection on Bunch’s leg spread in the days before his death.
“It was a little cut on the top of the foot,” said Brandy Pendergraft, Bunch’s adult daughter. KHO in a sit-down interview.
‘It wasn’t even an inch, it was tiny.’
“This isn’t how it was supposed to happen,” she continued with tears in her eyes. “He’s supposed to be here. For a little while longer.”
The bacteria that killed his father, he said, was Vibrio, which caused a case so severe that Bunch was put on a breathing tube within days.
This year alone, 11 cases of the often-fatal infection have been reported in Texas as the climate warms and the state’s bay loses salinity due to rainfall.
This creates a perfect storm for bacteria to thrive, a storm that went unnoticed by Bunch and his family before it was too late.
“It’s like your breath has been taken away,” Brandy said, still reeling from the sequence of days that had passed two months later. “You wish you could change it and go back.”
The bacteria, for its part, causes two types of infections: one that affects digestion and another that affects the skin.
Brandy Pendergraft, Bunch’s adult daughter, spoke to KHOU in an interview Monday where she warned others about the dangers of fishing with bare feet.
The decision proved fatal for Bunch, who is shown here with his family by the bay he loved so much.
The latter is what left Bunch’s leg covered in bruises and blisters in the few days before his death, photos show, shortly after he began feeling ill a few hours into his crabbing excursion.
When he first started feeling ill, before the infection became visibly evident, Pendergraft recalled that he first thought his father was having a heart attack.
“He called me because he was in extreme pain down the entire right side of his body,” she said Monday.
“He seemed to have symptoms of a heart attack, so I told him he should probably go to the emergency room to get checked out.”
Bunch followed his advice, but doctors couldn’t immediately find anything wrong.
The infection had not yet made itself felt, but that would change within a day.
The next morning, after being released, “he was completely changed,” Bunch recalled.
“He had a fever of 104 degrees, was lethargic, and was speaking in a disoriented and nonsensical manner.”
Pictured here are the shallow waters where Bunch had been wading when he became infected with the bacteria.
There have been 11 reported cases of the often-fatal infection this year alone as the climate warms and the Gulf becomes less saline due to rainfall.
Another hospital visit followed, this time to the Texas Medical Center in Houston.
There, Bunch’s condition continued to deteriorate rapidly and within half a day he was in dire straits.
“In less than 12 hours, he went from walking, talking, working and still doing the things he loved to being on a ventilator in the ICU and now we have to make life-changing decisions for him,” Pendergraft said emotionally.
After a series of tests and much discomfort, doctors still did not know what was causing the previously healthy man to become ill.
That changed when Pendergraft took a look at his father’s leg, which was now beginning to show signs of inflammation — signs that quickly spread throughout Bunch’s body.
“I looked at his foot and thought, ‘Oh my God. Could that be the flesh-eating bacteria? The Vibrio?'” Pendergraft recalled.
Doctors soon discovered that he was right, but by then it was too late.
“The blisters were all over her body,” her daughter said. “They were spreading, like a wildfire.”
Bunch, seen here with his daughter a few years ago, died a week after stepping into the water, he said.
“All we have left are things,” her daughter said, before issuing a stark warning: “Memories. We will never be the same after this.”
Bunch died a few days and a week after stepping into the water.
“All we have left are things,” Pendergraft said, before issuing a stark warning: “Memories. We’ll never be the same after this.”
“It’s real,” he continued, referring to the dangers posed by bacteria like Vibrio. “It can affect you. It can affect anyone.”
Noting that the 12 cases seen this year represent a tenfold increase from last year, he urged officials to do more to convey words of caution to those who enter the water.
“You don’t see a lot of signs,” he said. “You might see a few here and there, but it’s not as frequent as it should be.”
“I want to raise awareness among people who are not from here and who come here on holiday,” he added.
“Yes, we want tourists and people to enjoy it, but as a state we have to do more, also for our locals.”
Bunch is survived by his wife Dawn Perkins, his two adult daughters, as well as several stepchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins.
“Randy was an avid outdoorsman and found peace and joy in nature,” his obituary said. “He will be deeply missed.”
