Steven developed the condition as a result of an infection he contracted while attempting to remove the ingrown hair from his groin area.
Steven, whose last name and age have not been revealed, was diagnosed with potentially fatal sepsis as a result of the infection in late 2022, according to TikTok videos posted by his sister, Michelle.
Sepsis is an extreme reaction by the body’s immune system to an infection. Nicknamed the ‘silent killer,’ it can rapidly trigger a host of life-threatening complications including organ failure and, if untreated, death.
The septic shock led to a range of alarming complications including blood clots, pneumonia, organ failure and the lung condition ARDS – acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Doctors then discovered the septic bacterial infection had reached his heart and ‘destroyed it,’ Michelle said, but he couldn’t undergo surgery because his condition was too critical.
Due to all the complications, Steven, a husband and father, was intubated and placed in a medically induced coma to try and allow his body to heal.
Michelle said doctors declared him brain dead and gave him a four percent chance at survival.
But after a month and a multitude of procedures and treatments, Steven emerged from his coma with no brain damage and has since nearly fully recovered.
Sepsis is extremely difficult to recognize and diagnose, and affects approximately 1.7million Americans every year, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
It occurs when the body’s immune system responds to an infection or bacteria and goes into overdrive, setting off a series of reactions that can lead to organ failure.
It is not clear how long Steven waited for a diagnosis of sepsis, and at what point it developed.
Sepsis is the third most common cause of death in US hospitals and kills nearly 270,000 people a year, the CDC reports. It costs the healthcare system an estimated $62billion a year.
While diagnosing the condition can be difficult, it is often treatable when caught early enough and a patient is given strong antibiotics.
For every hour a septic patient is not given treatment, the risk of death increases by four to nine percent.
Symptoms include extremely high or low body temperature, mental decline and confusion, severe pain and shortness of breath.
Throughout the month Steven was in a coma, he underwent numerous therapies to treat his illnesses.
To help with ARDS, he was strapped to a specialized hospital bed that rotates – a rotobed – and turned over ‘similar to roasting a pig over a fire,’ Michelle said.
