A college wrestler nearly lost his leg after a bruise on his left shin turned out to be a flesh-eating bacterial infection.
Peyton Robb, 23, tried to shake off “feeling crummy” at a wrestling competition in March as a stomach problem and being “tough” as a wrestler.
But he collapsed, threw up and shivered after a game, prompting his worried parents to take him to hospital.
Doctors initially dismissed the University of Nebraska-Lincoln wrestler’s bruise as a common infection. But when his leg became red, swollen and extremely painful, he was re-diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis – a rare bacterial infection that causes flesh to rot.
It is feared Mr Robb could have been infected when bacteria on a wrestling mat got into a cut or scrape on his leg and then overwhelmed his immune system, but it is unclear how he became infected.
Peyton Robb, 23, has been trying to get rid of “feeling crummy” like a stomach and being “tough” like a wrestler. But it later emerged that he had necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease. To fight the infection, doctors cut off pieces of his skin and muscle that were infected (pictured above shows his leg while recovering from the disease)
Mr Robb, pictured above at the Big Ten Championships on March 7, 2020, said a leg bruise appeared in March during another wrestling competition.
Mr Robb had surgery for nearly two weeks as doctors cut ‘black dots’ on his shin, which indicated the disease, to clear out the infection. The treatment worked and he has now spent six weeks recovering at hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Mr. Robb has been competing since at least 2020 and has competed in the prestigious Big Ten Championships four times and National College Athletics Association (NCAA) wrestling tournaments twice.
But while at the NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last March, representing the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cornhuskers, he fell ill.
In a post about a fundraiser for the wrestler, it was revealed Mr Robb struggled for at least two matches with the bruise on his leg – losing both matches – before collapsing, shaking and vomiting, which led to him being rushed to the emergency room.
“I kept struggling because that’s just my mindset,” Mr Robb said. OHSMagnet talk after the treatment.
“I thought I just had a stomach bug or something that made me feel crummy.”
A fundraiser added that after losing the semi-final on March 17: “His bruise was now extremely tender, but nothing he had ever experienced before.”
“He was supposed to get tough, that’s what elite wrestlers are expected to do.”
Oklahoma doctors diagnosed him with strep cellulitis – a common bacterial infection – on his shin and gave him antibiotics before he was discharged.
When his condition worsened after returning to Lincoln, Nebraska, a six-hour drive from Tulsa, he was taken by his girlfriend Taylor to doctors in town.
They quickly diagnosed him with sepsis – a life-threatening medical emergency where inflammation can damage multiple organs – and detected blood clots in his lungs. He also had a very high heart rate, low blood pressure and severe pain.
He was given antibiotics and blood thinners to fight the disease and the clots in his lungs.
But that’s when “black spots” started to appear on his shin. These indicate that the cells are dying, a sign that someone has necrotizing fasciitis.
He was then rushed to surgery where doctors cut out the affected tissue to prevent infection from reaching his bone, which could have resulted in an amputation.
Mr Robb had to sit in a room for two and a half hours a day while recovering, which exposes the body to extra oxygen. Scientists say it can speed up cell recovery
The wrestler was left in ‘excruciating’ pain after the third operation with holes on both sides of his shin
Over several operations over 13 days, they ended up cutting large chunks of skin, as well as fascia – the cells under the skin – and muscle.
After his third surgery, Mr Robb was described as in ‘excruciating pain’ and having ‘two gaping incisions on either side of his shin bone’.
The fundraiser adds: ‘[The doctor] told his parents, Tracey and Carrie, that he would need to remove as much tissue as necessary from Peyton’s leg until the necrosis (dead tissue) was treated.
“And, I quote, ‘or your son could die’.
Speaking about the infection, Mr Robb told KCCI: ‘There were a lot of times when I was just in a bit of pain.
“Sometimes it was just subtle, sometimes a bit more.
‘[But] I just learned to keep that positive attitude in whatever situation you find yourself in, and I think that helped me through it all.
The treatment was successful and Mr. Robb was later transferred to a burn unit at CHI Health St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska.
He spent the next six weeks in the unit entering a special pressurized chamber five days a week for two hours and 15 minutes at a time to receive supplemental oxygen, which doctors say can speed up recovery. ..
Roy Maurer, a medical assistant at the hospital who was involved in the case, said: as well as in the bloodstream, basically helps to suppress and kill bacteria in addition to antibiotics.
Mr. Robb is currently recovering and hopes to be able to resume wrestling within a few months.
He is shown above with cream rubbed into his injured leg, where the necrotizing fasciitis appeared
He is pictured above giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed
Mr Robb, pictured above at the Big Ten Championships on March 7, 2020, said a leg bruise appeared in March during another wrestling competition.
It’s unclear how he caught necrotizing fasciitis, which is triggered when bacteria enter the body through a cut in the skin and aren’t fought off by the immune system.
But the cellulitis, which he was initially diagnosed with, can be caused by the catching of bacteria from equipment such as wrestling and yoga mats.
Those who participate in contact sports, such as wrestling, are also at higher risk of bacterial infections, doctors say, due to frequent skin-to-skin contact with opponents and wrestling mats.
Necrotizing fasciitis is rare in the United States, with approximately 700 to 1,150 cases nationwide each year, but it is a medical emergency due to the rapid spread of bacteria.
It can be triggered when bacteria that live harmlessly on the surface of skin or objects, such as Streptococcus or Staphylococcus, get under the skin and start colonizing tissue.
These are normally fought off by the immune system, but in some cases they can overwhelm the immune system and trigger an infection.
At this point, they begin to multiply and spread rapidly, up to several centimeters per hour, and release toxins into the tissues, causing necrosis or cell death.
Bacteria can then also begin to spread through the body via the bloodstream and trigger inflammation throughout the body.
This leads to symptoms such as fever, chills, low blood pressure, and organ dysfunction.
Treatment for the disease includes emergency surgery to cut out the affected tissue and remove the bacterial infection along with the administration of antibiotics.
About 20-30% of patients do not survive the infection, according to statistics, with cases of delayed diagnosis having a higher risk of death.
