A man who returned from a tropical island holiday with flu-like symptoms has had his hands and feet amputated after a blood infection nearly killed him.
Jason Miller, 48, from Sydney came back from the Philippines and put off seeing a doctor before being rushed to hospital days later and put into an induced coma.
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"I had a sore throat, body aching. I should have gone to the doctors earlier but I waited an extra day to see if I could feel better and go back to work," he told ABC News.
Mr Miller was eventually diagnosed with streptococcus and aerococcus bacterial infections that put him into septic shock and caused organ failure.
"He had septic shock to the degree that probably most doctors have never seen before," Dr Michael Mina from Northern Beaches Hospital said.
When Mr Miller regained consciousness a week later, his hands and feet were black due to a loss of circulation and eventually had to be amputated.
Despite the loss of limbs the father of one is upbeat about the experience.
"They had to ... keep all the [vital] organs alive - my brain, my heart, my lungs, and not worry about extremities," he said.
"So I'm happy to have to lose my hands and my feet. I'm happy with that deal rather than not being here talking to you, so I'll take that deal any day.
"They told me I had one hour, that's all I had left in me. One hour and I wouldn't have made it."
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Mr Miller with prosthetics, a wheelchair and physiotherapy.
Newshub.
