ODESSA, Fla. — Ron McCall said an infection last week started in his thumb and got worse.
“It was like I hit it with a hammer or something, is what it really felt like," he said.
McCall said he was helping a neighborhood boy unhook a fish he’d caught in this pond behind his Pasco County home.
That’s when he said what doctors call a flesh-eating bacteria likely got into his body through a cut or scrape on his thumb.
“I’ve read about this and I’ve heard about this. Of course, I can’t believe it happened to me. I was born and raised here. Never would have thought," said McCall.
The Florida Department of Health said such bacteria are naturally occurring in warm, sometimes brackish water in lakes, oceans, and even swimming pools.
It can stop blood circulation and damage skin tissue. The pain continued and the swelling grew.
The next thing he knew, he was in the emergency room and then in surgery.
“It was just a very scary thing because it was so quick," said McCall's wife, Janice.
Janice said if they had waited longer to see doctors, he could have lost his thumb, his whole arm, or his life.
“It’s fast spreading and it’s terrifying. He could have been dead. That’s how quickly this moves," she said.
The Health Department said Florida had more than 60 cases of similar bacterial infections last year, with 11 of those cases ending in death.
Many of those cases were related to flood waters caused by Hurricane Ian.
“My main concern is really about the kids. The kids that are all out here fishing. It could have been anyone one of them," said McCall.
McCall said he feels lucky nothing worse happened to him, but he knows it will be a long road to recovery.
He's always been the guy who cleans up trash from the ponds in his neighborhood.
But that's something he won't be doing anytime soon.
