A retired welder has described how he came within hours of an agonising death after contracting all three deadly forms of bubonic plague from a cat bite. Paul Gaylord, 61, relived in vivid detail how the horrifying symptoms of the Black Death began to take over his body - gradually turning his hands black. Gaylord was infected in June, 2013, when he tried to remove a mouse from the throat of a choking cat. The plague-stricken animal bit him. Within 48 hours he began to suffer flu-like symptoms. Soon his skin started to turn grey and the glands under his arms swell to the size of lemons.
The plague began to consume his vital organs - causing his long to collapse and his heart stop beating.Doctors had discussed switching off his life support machine the day before woke from his coma, he said as he revealed how close to death he had come.He said: 'Hooked up to a dialysis machine, I had collapsed lungs and at one point my heart stopped... Technically, I shouldn't be here.
'My doctor told me I had developed all three stages of the plague: bubonic (the least lethal form, which infects the lymphatic system), pneumonic (which infects the lungs) and septicaemic (the bloodstream). Some people have survived bubonic plague, but not all three, apparently.'
Mr Gaylord is still coming to terms with how serious his illness was and how miraculous his recovery has been.
Told he faced a life of dialysis because his vital organs were too badly damaged, Mr Gaylord underwent one treatment before his body regained its functions.
But it was too late to save his long-dead fingers, which surgeons have now amputated.
'I still have my hands and part of my thumbs. They took off all the toes on my left foot, and about a third of my right foot is gone', he added.'It's hard to believe it happened to me, but rather than feel depressed, I've always felt positive and happy to be alive.'
Mr Gaylord retired as a welder and now spends much of his free time indulging in his hobby making knives in his garage.
The plague began to consume his vital organs - causing his long to collapse and his heart stop beating.Doctors had discussed switching off his life support machine the day before woke from his coma, he said as he revealed how close to death he had come.He said: 'Hooked up to a dialysis machine, I had collapsed lungs and at one point my heart stopped... Technically, I shouldn't be here.
'My doctor told me I had developed all three stages of the plague: bubonic (the least lethal form, which infects the lymphatic system), pneumonic (which infects the lungs) and septicaemic (the bloodstream). Some people have survived bubonic plague, but not all three, apparently.'
Mr Gaylord is still coming to terms with how serious his illness was and how miraculous his recovery has been.
Told he faced a life of dialysis because his vital organs were too badly damaged, Mr Gaylord underwent one treatment before his body regained its functions.
But it was too late to save his long-dead fingers, which surgeons have now amputated.
'I still have my hands and part of my thumbs. They took off all the toes on my left foot, and about a third of my right foot is gone', he added.'It's hard to believe it happened to me, but rather than feel depressed, I've always felt positive and happy to be alive.'
Mr Gaylord retired as a welder and now spends much of his free time indulging in his hobby making knives in his garage.
No comments:
Post a Comment