Teen’s Hands and Feet Amputated After ‘Extremely Rare’ Bacterial Infection: Our ‘World Fell Apart’

The parents of a 14-year-old boy in Tennessee made the difficult decision to amputate their son’s hands and feet in order to save his life, following a diagnosis of pneumonia and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome that sent him into cardiac arrest.

When Mathias Uribe began experiencing “flu-like symptoms” in June, his parents Edgar Uribe and Catalina Cardona knew something wasn’t right.

They took him to see doctors twice, according to the GoFundMe page set up to help cover the costs of Mathias’ eventual hospital stay.

According to NewsChannel5, while at the local hospital, Mathias’ illness swiftly progressed to septic shock and he went into cardiac arrest for six minutes. The teen was airlifted to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, where there was an available ECMO machine.

The Mayo Clinic describes an ECMO machine as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, in which blood is pumped outside of one’s body to a heart-lung machine in critical care or life-threatening situations when one’s heart and lungs need help to heal.

“We come to you with heavy hearts to share some difficult news about our beloved son,” the GoFundMe message begins, explaining how the family’s “world fell apart” on June 30 when Mathias was taken to the emergency room, “where his heart stopped.”

Dr. Katherine Boyle, the assistant professor of Pediatrics Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital who led Mathias’ care team, told WSMV that the boy’s medical situation is “extremely rare.”

“Sometimes, when you get the flu, it does set you up for a bacterial infection. But even then, most kids don’t get nearly as sick as Mathias did,” Boyle said.

On July 12, as Mathias’ heart and lungs showed improvement, his medical team removed the ECMO therapy. On July 18, his respirator was removed as his health continued to improve.

The GoFundMe statement notes that “after 20 days of intense treatment, we were told that his extremities had been compromised.” After conferring with the teen’s medical team, Mathias’ parents made the difficult decision to amputate his hands and feet.

“That flow wasn’t getting to all of his extremities, so they had to amputate all of his four extremities,” Mathias’ father told WSMV.

Mathias reportedly underwent surgery on July 25 to remove his left leg above the knee and his right leg below the knee. The surgery to amputate both hands above the wrist was performed on Aug. 1.

“I said when we got to the doctors when we came there, ‘Please don’t use the word amputation,’ ” Mathias’ mother told WSMV. “Let’s use ‘remove.’ ”

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Mathias’ parents expect him to be in the hospital for another month, where the teen has already spent over two months as an inpatient. They are looking for prosthetics and rehab in the Atlanta area, per WSMV.

Both parents are asking for “support, love, and prayers” as their son continues his recovery.