My hands and legs were amputated after a common injury while playing Frisbee golf led to a fatal infection

Dylan Riley didn’t think twice about the small cut on his right knee caused by diving for a Frisbee on a sunny October afternoon.

The 31-year-old self-confessed klutz stumbled on the way to pick up the rogue Frisbee, leaving a small cut.

His mother, Trina White, an infectious disease nurse, initially ruled out an infection. But two weeks later he woke up with flu-like symptoms, which quickly turned into an inability to move his body.

He said, “All I could do was turn my head and yell for my roommates to help me, and then they called 911.”

Mr. Riley was rushed to Baptist Integris Hospital in Oklahoma City, where doctors diagnosed him with streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.

The same bacteria that causes strep throat had infiltrated Mr. Riley’s bloodstream, causing his immune system to go haywire and start attacking healthy tissue.

Dr. Bob Schoaps, medical director for specialist critical care and acute mechanical circulatory support at the hospital, said: ‘He came into our hospital seriously ill, practically on the brink of death.’

Had he waited much longer in his apartment to feel better, there was a good chance Mr. Riley would have died, his doctor said.

Dylan Riley’s seemingly innocent cut on his knee evolved into life-threatening toxic shock syndrome. He was unconscious for about five days until he woke up and wasn’t sure what brought him there

The doctor who treated Mr. Riley said the typical survival rate is about 10 percent or less.

His mother received the call no mother wants to receive on November 10, 2023 – that her son was on the brink of death and was being rushed to the hospital.

Mrs White said: ‘I got to the emergency room and they immediately took me back and said, ‘We don’t have time. Do you want to give him sustenance or not?

“I remember being confused and saying, ‘I’m so sorry, but I think you have the wrong family.’ But then I walked around the corner and saw my son lying there, not the son I knew of course, and in that moment my heart sank.”

Mr. Riley was placed on the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, commonly abbreviated as ECMO, which maintains heart and lung function when a person is in critical condition. It is often considered a patient’s last hope.

When someone experiences toxic shock, the immune system attacks healthy organs and prevents blood and oxygen from flowing throughout the body.

The lack of blood means that limbs begin to die and rot, and organs begin to fail.

Mrs White said: ‘As a mother this is your worst nightmare. I said, ‘Do what you have to do and save my son.’

Although the machine kept his vital organs functional, oxygen-rich blood could not circulate.

After a few days, his limbs up to his ears began to turn black, a sign that the skin tissue was dying.

Just before Christmas 2023, doctors had to amputate Mr Riley’s legs from the knee down. His extremities – including his hands as pictured here – began to turn black due to a lack of oxygenated blood flowing to them while he was on a ventilator

Mr Riley was fitted with a prosthetic leg on a Friday in May. The following Monday he had to tackle curbs and steps. He has recently returned to some of his hobbies, such as bowling

Mr. Riley was unconscious in the hospital for about five days until doctors were able to remove him from the ECMO machine.

When he woke up unable to remember the past week, his family prepared him for the possibility that he might lose a limb or two.

His mother told him People that she feared she had made the wrong decision in agreeing to put him on life support, knowing it could still lead to limb loss.

She said: ‘I was selfish. I wanted my son. I didn’t care what he looked like. I didn’t care which parts we lost.

‘I was afraid he would blame me for that. I was afraid he would be angry because he is living a life so different from what he knew.”

But her son assured her that “it doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that I’m still here.’

Doctors tried to save as many of his limbs as possible.

Just before Christmas in 2023, doctors amputated Mr Riley’s legs from the knee down. A month later they removed most of both of his hands.

He managed to retain his right palm, while surgeons on his left hand were able to save part of his thumb and parts of his index and middle fingers.

Fortunately, some parts of his hand have healed. He can still hold a pen and write, but he will never be able to use power tools again as he did during his career in welding and construction.

He said: ‘I discovered that I had been in contact with someone who had strep throat and the streptococcal bacteria had entered my wound and into my bloodstream.

‘During that week when I felt like I had the flu and thought I would get over it, the bacteria invaded my blood system and shut down my heart, my lungs and my kidneys, leaving me on life support for five days . ‘

He suffered numerous uncomfortable side effects, including the loss of his taste buds so that no food was palatable and the entire skin peeling off, similar to how a snake sheds its skin.

He is proud of ‘always’ [trying] to see the positive in things,” Mr. Riley relied on his sense of humor to get through the challenging ordeal and also help his friends and family through it.

He said: ‘When I see them crying I think, ‘Don’t do that because you’re going to make me cry.’ And so my first instinct is to always make them laugh, so I sat there joking about the amputations.”

Mr. Riley is pictured before his near-fatal injury last fall. Throughout the ordeal, friends and family said he never lost his sense of humor and is taking these big life changes in stride

His positive attitude appears to have had a similarly positive effect on his recovery.

On Friday, May 17, Mr. Riley received a prosthetic leg. On Monday he was busy tackling steps and curbs.

A year later, he has returned to some of his hobbies, such as bowling and Frisbee golf.

Mr. Riley often visits other amputees in the hospital before surgery to offer them hope.

He said: ‘If anything, I can help them realize that this is not the end – this is just the beginning of their new story.

‘You can go two ways: you can move forward and excel, or you can sit back and take a step back.