What started as flu symptoms leads to Tennessee teen having hands, legs amputated

The parents of a 14-year-old boy in Tennessee recently had to make the difficult decision to amputate their son's hands and legs after he contracted a rare and deadly bacterial infection.

Mathias Uribe, a cross-country runner and piano player, was twice taken to a local doctor by his parents in mid-June for "flu-like symptoms," according to a GoFundMe created by the Uribe family.

Near the end of the month, his symptoms worsened, and he was taken to an emergency room where his heart stopped and the boy went into cardiac arrest, the family said. Doctors performed CPR, and the teen was airlifted to the pediatric ICU at Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, where he was immediately put on life support treatment.

"He was so close to not surviving," Dr. Katie Boyle, who led the boy's care team, told USA TODAY. "We put him on (life support) with the hope that he would survive, but knowing that his chances of survival were lower than his chances of dying from the illness."

Mathias was diagnosed with pneumonia and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, a rare and rapidly developing bacterial infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Toxic shock syndrome affects about 3-6 people per 100,000 each year, said Erin Clark, an associate professor at the University of Utah Health in 2018. The specific infection that has kept Mathias in the hospital for months is even rarer than that.

After roughly two weeks of life support treatment for all his vital organs, doctors removed the treatment from his heart and lungs. He began showing improvements. Some days later, his respirator was taken out.

On July 20, doctors told the family that the boy's organs were saved; however, his extremities were not. His hands and legs "did not receive enough blood flow" and had to be amputated.

“It was clear that the tissue wasn't going to survive,” Boyle said.

For nearly half of people who get the rare bacterial disease, experts don't know how the bacteria got into the body, according to the CDC. The bacteria can sometimes enter the body through openings in the skin, such as an injury or surgical wound, or through mucus membranes, including the skin inside the nose and throat, the CDC says. Out of 10 people with the infection, as many as three people will die from it.

Boyle said she sees cases of the rare disease at the Tennessee hospital a few times each year. Often, and including for Mathias, the bacterial infection complicates the flu.

"What the flu can do is cause injury to your airway and your lungs, and then these bacteria that we often come in contact with and can fight off can start to somehow find a way to grow before your immune system fights them off," she said.

Her advice to parents was to bring children to a doctor if fever symptoms have lasted over a week and are worsening, especially if the child is having trouble breathing, has really cool skin or is hard to wake up. To lessen risk of the rare infectious disease, Boyle said to wash hands often and clean and bandage wounds.

Mathias, an avid soccer and basketball fan with dreams of attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been resilient through what will be the start of a long medical journey, his family said.

"Our brilliant, 14-year-old son is a fighter," they wrote on GoFundMe. "Our son has always been a happy, tender, loving boy, who touches the heart of everyone around him."

The fundraiser, titled "#MiracleforMathias," has raised close to $245,000 as of Thursday morning. Donations will go toward the bills for Mathias' treatment, including life-long prosthetics and a variety of therapies.

"He has faced adversity with unwavering courage, and we have no doubt that he will continue to do so throughout this journey," the Uribe family said. "We are in awe of his unwavering spirit and determination, which will undoubtedly guide him through the challenges that lie ahead."