Healthy Man, 41, Loses Leg After Scratch on Foot Develops Into Deadly Illness

Steve Rice was a perfectly healthy 41-year-old when he started acting strangely in February 2020.

Two days after sustaining a small cut on the bottom of his heel, the dad-of-two from Easley, South Carolina, entered a "fugue state," with his behavior getting progressively more bizarre. Unbeknownst to him and his family, Rice had developed sepsis, which had reached his brain and was altering his behavior.

"I have a little to no memory of what I did or how I acted and have just heard about my actions from my brother, my wife and my parents," he told Newsweek.

Over the next 48 hours, Rice would walk around his apartment naked, tear down the blinds from all of the windows and drink a bottle of shampoo, amongst other out-of-character actions.

What is Sepsis and Is It Common?

Over 1.7 million adults in the United States develop sepsis per year, with an estimated 350,000 of those patients hospitalized for sepsis dying, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The Mayo Clinic describes sepsis as "the body's response to an infection [that] damages its own tissues." The infection-fighting processes attack the body, preventing organs from functioning normally.

Although most sepsis infections begin in a patient's lungs, urinary tract, skin or gastrointestinal tract, they can occur elsewhere in the body. The condition is also associated with other illnesses, such as staph infections and pneumonia.

Dr. Kevin Chung, Chief Medical Officer at SeaStar Medical, said that early recognition of sepsis is key to a patient's survival.

"Without timely treatment, sepsis can quickly lead to organ failure, and ultimately, death," he told Newsweek.

Symptoms like Rice's are shockingly common with sepsis sufferers but can vary by person and the type of infection.

"For example, some patients will develop a mild cough, others [will have] body aches, others nausea, while others will have a fever as their first symptom," Chung said. "Believe it or not, altered mental status like lethargy, hypomania, or delirium are common features of rapidly progressing sepsis.

"This along with symptoms such as low blood pressure and rapid breathing together are included in the most recent critical care guidelines to help clinicians detect sepsis early."

Septic shock can lead to small clots in blood vessels, depriving limbs of oxygen and leading to tissue death. Ten percent of amputations in the U.S. annually are due to the condition, according to Sepsis Alliance.

Earlier this year, The New England Journal of Medicine reported on a teenager who lost both of his legs due to ingesting bacteria from leftover noodles, while a 34-year-old woman had all of her fingers amputated after a kidney stone developed into sepsis.

If you or a loved one are showing symptoms of sepsis, Chung said to seek medical attention immediately.

'The Doctors Had to Physically Restrain Me'

When he went for a jog on February 13, Rice didn't know it would change his life forever. While running around the school track near his apartment, he sustained a small cut on his heel which became infected.

"Somehow a little rock or something got inside of my shoe and made a small puncture wound on the sole of my foot," he said. "When I got home, I took off my shoes and socks and dressed the small wound with antibiotic ointment and a Band-Aid and then I went to bed."

At some point over the next two days, the tiny injury would turn into sepsis, enter Rice's bloodstream, and cross the barrier into his brain.

"At first I was just restless and hot and thirsty," he said. "I apparently took off all my clothes and walked around the apartment nude, going from my bedroom to our refrigerator where I grabbed this huge jug of apple juice. I carried it with me for the next 12 hours like it was my baby or something. Nobody could make me put it down."

Rice's behavior got progressively more bizarre over the next two days. He entered his son's bedroom and pulled down the blinds, before doing the same in all of the other bedrooms. He climbed underneath his daughter's crib and took a nap.

"I remember being angry and yelling that everyone should just leave me alone and that I just wanted to go to sleep, even though my wife and my brother were constantly telling me to go to the hospital because I was sick," he said.

Terrified, his family called an ambulance, but the EMTs didn't take Rice to the hospital.

"I was yelling at them through the wall that I was perfectly fine," he said.

Eventually, Rice wore himself out to a point that his family could take him to the emergency room. By this point, he had to be physically held up by his father, Steve Rice Sr., and brother, Philip Rice, as he was too dizzy and disorientated to walk. Once in the ER, Rice suddenly became highly combative.

"Numerous times when they started an IV in either or both arms, I pulled them out, spraying blood everywhere," he said. "The doctors had to physically restrain me from trying to leave a couple times, and finally I was given an injection of Haldol that was supposed to calm me down but I later heard that this made me very angry so they then had to put me to sleep using anesthetic."

Rice was placed in a medically-induced coma and transferred to the larger hospital in Greenville. Due to his 103-degree fever and erratic behavior, doctors initially believed that Rice was on drugs, despite being sober for 10 years. Doctors conducted a number of tests before discovering the infection in Rice's foot.

"They eventually found a very serious staphylococcus infection, and that was the sepsis in my blood, but they did not know where it came from until a doctor examined me and saw the wound on my foot," Rice said. "I was told when they found it, he took a scalpel and made a small incision to investigate the wound, and then all kinds of blood and pus and nastiness came pouring out."

Doctors initially tried to clean out the wound through surgery, but the sepsis had already reached the bone and Rice's leg couldn't be saved. After his right leg was amputated below the knee, he was pumped full of antibiotics to clear the infection from his system.

"Around this time is when I woke up and started to get my faculties back," he said. "I remember from that point what happened, but I do have flash memories with bits and pieces where I was struggling, fighting all the nurses and screaming and yelling."

After getting the full details from his wife and family, Rice felt like "the worst patient" ever and apologized to the medical staff.

"I had actually escaped from my restraints and tried to walk or crawl out of the hospital on my bloody stump of a leg," he said. "I broke equipment and threw anything I could get my hands on.

"They were all very professional and gracious about it and chalked it up to me being seriously ill."

'I Got a Second Chance'

Rice discharged himself from the hospital sooner than planned as he wanted to see his son, who was in fifth grade at the time, receive the "Student of the Year" award at school. At first, he used a wheelchair, before moving onto crutches a few days later. Once his leg had healed enough, he was fitted for a prosthetic leg.

"They told me that I healed very quickly," Rice said. "What would usually take about a year of recovery I did in about six months, and my next three months were spent learning to walk again on a prosthetic leg."

Before the infection, Rice was a kitchen manager and had just completed training to be an emergency medical technician (EMT). Unfortunately, he never got a chance to put his knowledge to use, as he contracted sepsis right after graduating.

He said the EMTs that arrived after his wife's 911 call "f***** up."

"I know the protocols for what an EMT should do in this case," Rice said. "Under no circumstances should a patient be left alone without the EMTs even examining them at the very least."

He is now looking for a job that is easier on his prosthetic leg than working in a restaurant or ambulance, such as working from home. He is not currently on disability or accepting any assistance, which means things are tough financially, but he does have a GoFundMe called "Steve Rice & the Kiddos" for anyone who wants to help out.

Despite everything, Rice said the amputation is "the best thing that ever happened to him."

"I got a second chance at living my life," he said. "I woke up from that experience in the hospital with a newfound sense of appreciation and respect for my family and my kids. My plans for the future are in flux right now, but I trust the universe to steer me in the right direction."