A Spring Hill family says the illness struck on the flight home and led to dialysis and major reconstruction.
SPRING HILL, Fla. — What began as a scraped ankle during a New Year’s vacation in the Bahamas spiraled into septic shock, emergency surgery and organ failure for 62-year-old Brian Roush, his family said, as they raise money for dialysis, rehabilitation and ongoing care.
Roush’s story has circulated widely because it shows how quickly a rare condition called necrotizing fasciitis can overwhelm a patient. The infection, often described as “flesh-eating disease,” can be caused by several kinds of bacteria and is treated as a medical emergency. Federal health officials say rapid diagnosis is challenging in the early hours, and doctors often rely on a combination of exams, lab work, imaging and, in some cases, surgery to confirm what is happening. In Roush’s case, his daughter says physicians acted before the diagnosis was fully confirmed.
Roush traveled to the Bahamas with his girlfriend, Tonia Buford Stinson, to mark a new chapter in their lives after recently moving in together, the family said. Brittany Roush, his daughter, said he tripped and scraped his ankle while on the islands. The injury looked small enough that it did not change the trip’s pace, and the family said he continued activities such as riding waterslides and taking part in a tourist excursion where visitors swim with pigs. In a fundraiser description, Brittany Roush said he cleaned the scrape and kept enjoying the vacation, including seafood meals.
Then, the family said, the return trip brought an abrupt turn. On Jan. 3, while heading back to Florida, he became “violently ill,” according to the GoFundMe campaign organized by his daughter. Within hours, the campaign said, he was admitted to a hospital in Fort Lauderdale with severe septic shock, intubated and placed on a ventilator. Brittany Roush told Florida media that “his ankle erupted into blisters” while he was in the emergency room, as doctors grew concerned about how rapidly the injury was changing.
The fundraiser said hospital staff suspected necrotizing fasciitis even though, at first, the family said he did not appear to have the “normal symptoms” they expected and there was no obvious open wound beyond swelling at the ankle. The doctors “proactively rushed him into emergency surgery to remove as much of the suspected infected tissue as possible,” Brittany Roush wrote, describing that decision as lifesaving. In the days that followed, she said, the diagnosis was confirmed, but the infection had already set off sepsis, the body’s dangerous overreaction that can lead to widespread damage.
Federal health guidance describes necrotizing fasciitis as a severe infection that destroys soft tissue and can be fatal without rapid treatment. One cause is invasive group A strep, and clinical guidance emphasizes antibiotics and urgent surgical removal of infected tissue. Medical references describe early symptoms that can resemble flu and stomach illness, paired with severe pain near an injury. As the infection advances, skin changes can worsen quickly, and patients may develop life-threatening complications when infection spreads through the bloodstream.
Roush’s family said the illness reached that level fast. Brittany Roush wrote that during septic shock his liver, kidneys and lungs failed and he was placed in an induced coma on life support. The fundraiser said his ankle became gangrenous and that “most of the flesh from his ankle to his lower calf had to be removed down to the bone.” Doctors told the family his odds of surviving were 10% or lower, the campaign said, as relatives traveled to South Florida to sit by his bedside during a critical stretch.
About a week later, the family said the trajectory changed. Brittany Roush wrote that after nonstop antibiotics and life support, he cleared the infection and his lungs and liver began to recover. The crisis, however, did not end with the infection’s clearance. The family said the tissue loss was extensive, requiring reconstruction. Brittany Roush wrote that surgeons performed a muscle flap and skin graft so large that they took his entire right latissimus dorsi muscle and a significant piece of skin from his thigh, leading to another stay in intensive care.
The fundraiser said kidney failure remained and that he was receiving daily dialysis, with doctors expecting his kidneys could recover. The family also said he developed severe ICU myopathy, leaving him weak and bedbound, and that he needed multiple blood transfusions due to anemia. Those complications, the family said, are part of why the next stage is focused on basic strength and function: sitting up, standing and learning to walk again after weeks in critical care and multiple surgeries.
Roush’s family described a web of practical burdens that followed the medical emergency. The fundraiser said his son-in-law flew to Florida to drive three dogs to Maryland so they could be cared for while the family stayed near the hospital. Brittany Roush also wrote about the loss of an elderly dog with cancer, saying the family made the decision to euthanize the pet before Roush was off life support. She said his partner lives with him in the Tampa area, while his eldest daughter lives in Maryland and his youngest lives in Germany, complicating travel and caregiving.
As the family tells it, the question of how the bacteria entered remains hard to pin down. The fundraiser and People’s account connect the infection to the ankle scrape and the vacation environment, but the family has not publicly named the specific bacterium. Public health sources note that several organisms can cause necrotizing infections, and some bacteria associated with water exposure can enter through open wounds. Federal health officials also describe Vibrio infections as one pathway for severe wound infections after contact with coastal waters, though not all necrotizing cases involve Vibrio.
The GoFundMe campaign, organized by Brittany Roush in Spring Hill, said donations would help cover medical bills, rehab, dialysis, travel, time away from work and pet care, along with gaps left by insurance and disability coverage. The campaign said Roush would be unable to work for at least three months. Brittany Roush wrote that he has tried to stay upbeat, joking with family and praising nurses in the hospital as he waits for the next move in his care.
As of the fundraiser’s latest update, the family expected Roush to transfer from the Fort Lauderdale hospital to a long-term rehabilitation facility closer to home, where intensive physical therapy would begin. The family said that transfer, and the first weeks of rehab, are the next milestone in a recovery that will likely take months.
Author note: Last updated February 10, 2026.