What started as a small burn on his thumb while cooking dinner during a camping trip turned into a life-threatening ordeal for a 40-year-old Colorado man. After developing a severe sepsis infection, he was put in a coma and forced to amputate both of his legs.
The unexpected tragedy unfolded for Max Armstrong from Franktown during a hunting trip with friends in Kiowa in December 2024. While cooking dinner during the camping, he burned his thumb on a skillet. Armstrong, who was used to small cuts and bruises while living outdoors for most of his life, ignored the little burn, continued with his dinner, and later bandaged it.
However, things escalated quickly. Within just a few days, a strep infection that had entered the body through the burn wound spread rapidly. His left leg began swelling, and his toenails turned purple. Only six days after the burn, he was rushed to an emergency room, where his condition rapidly worsened, and his eyes rolled back in his head.
“At this point, the burn on my thumb had become pretty ugly, it had turned black and looked like it was eating away at my thumb. The doctors were asking me lots of questions, but my eyes started rolling back in my head and I started talking nonsense. They concluded that I had sepsis and put me into a medically induced coma,” Armstrong said.
By the time Armstrong recovered from the coma six days later, his feet were completely black from the severe strep infection that led to sepsis. Sepsis is a life threatening situation that damages the vital organs. Doctors then advised amputating both his legs to prevent the infection from spreading. Armstrong underwent the life-saving surgery on December 23, 2024, which ultimately left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
“Initially when I woke up, I thought my legs were still there and then I came to realize that they weren’t. I felt down my leg and realized that my legs weren’t there, I asked the nurse and she confirmed that I had my legs amputated,” Armstrong said. He is now focusing on rehabilitation exercises to improve his mobility.
