A Centreville father is lucky to be alive after having both legs amputated due to complications stemming from rodent bacteria exposure.
Charman Deveaux, 33, of Sunlight Cottage, was hospitalized for months after contracting a life-threatening disease because of something he had ingested that was tainted with rat urine.
Deveaux, also known as DJ Flex, said he walked into Princess Margaret Hospital accompanied by his girlfriend on June 26 with pain shooting through his body.
“10 minutes later, I was checked in by a nurse, which led to me being pushed in the back in a wheelchair to wait for an available bed,” Deveaux said.
He said all he remembers is nurses giving him oxygen to help him breathe.
“I flatlined about 3 times and ended up in a coma fighting for my life, but while in a coma, I experienced what felt so much like hell because of all the pain, hurt I felt, and things I saw,” Deveaux said.
It would be nearly two weeks before he would regain consciousness.
Doctors asked him if he could remember anything about how he got to the hospital, and Deveaux said he was burned by fire because that was all he could remember from his vivid dreams.
“I tried to move, and I could not move. I tried to talk, and I could barely talk. My body was completely swollen,” Deveaux said of his initial moments after waking and realising his hands and legs had been wrapped in gauze.
Consultant Surgeon Dr Duane Sands said that Deveaux had gone into such a bad state of shock that the blood supply to his extremities was lost, and they had to be bandaged.
“The fact that Deveaux is alive to talk today is incredible,” Sands said.
According to Sands, Deveaux had contracted leptospirosis – a blood infection caused by bacteria commonly found in rat urine, among other sources.
“When you have cases of soda laying around and rats pee on the cans, and you then have a drink, you’re infected,” Sands said.
A person who contracts the disease can be asymptomatic or experience mild headaches, muscle pains, and fevers.
The risk of death due to typical leptospirosis infection is 5 per cent to 10 per cent.
The odds a person won’t survive increases from 50 per cent to 70 per cent when internal organs are impacted.
Deveaux had encountered the most severe form of leptospirosis – Weil’s disease, marked by bleeding in the lungs and kidney failure.
He said the damage to his internal organs was so severe that doctors were forced to put him on a ventilator to assist his breathing.
He also received dialysis every three days.
Deveaux said he knew something was wrong when the nurses began to remove his bandages a week after waking up.
“I remembered when the nurse took the dressing off my legs. I broke down in tears ’cause I could see something serious was wrong with my legs because they were black like they were dead, and I couldn’t feel when she touched my legs,” Deveaux said.
He said it was excruciatingly painful having the bandages removed.
“The dressing was sticking to my hands because there were bed sores on them. I’ve been stuck in bed on my back so long I ended up with bedsore on the back of my head and my hip,” he said.
Deveaux said that soon after, he heard the doctors discussing amputating his legs because of their serious condition.
It was not long before Dr Sands would have to break the bad news to him and tell him that he had to choose between keeping his legs or being alive for his daughter.
“I can’t live without my legs,” Deveaux said as he cried at the thought of being unable to walk alone.
Sands told him that prosthetics were an option and that the decision was ultimately his.
Deveaux said he battled with the decision for a week before making up his mind and having Dr Sands call his mother to give her the bad news.
She broke down crying on the phone, Deveaux said.
Deveaux was not allowed to see any relatives before the procedure because of the COVID-19 protocols.
His legs were amputated on his girlfriend’s birthday.
Deveaux’s recovery included rest and medicine, which eventually helped the swelling in his body go down after the amputation.
Still, he was fed through a tube because his tongue was swollen.
He soon began learning how to use a wheelchair, which he said felt like pushing a car.
He said his therapist told him that he would be able to go home as soon as he could get in and out of bed independently.
It is because of his determination, he said, he was home a week later.
Sands said they are now working on prosthetic limbs for Deveaux, who recently celebrated a birthday.
Sands advises everyone to keep cans and other food items out of the reach of rodents and to wash them off before putting them to one’s mouth.
Deputy Chief Health Inspector Shanty Richards said the Department of Environmental Health’s Vector Control Unit is on a mission to find rodents and identify breeding grounds.
“The Vector control officers go out every day to do treatments, and they also prosecute persons who cause conditions for rodents and other vectors to thrive,” Richards said.
According to Richards, the department had noticed a decline in the rodent population since the government had recently implemented a twice-a-week garbage collection program.
He also said that quantities of rat poison are available to persons who can produce valid government-issued identification.
It can be retrieved at the DEHS office located on Joe Farrington Road.
Call DEHS on 322-8037 if you have a rodent problem or see anything you think could be an environmental health issue.
https://thenassauguardian.com/lucky-to-be-alive-mans-legs-amputated-after-rodent-bacteria-exposure/