A Texas man was killed by flesh-eating bacteria after going crabbing in flip-flops instead of his usual wading boots.
Randy Bunch, 66, passed away within a week of becoming infected, his family said – eventually succumbing on June 8.
A few days before, the seasoned fisherman retrieved a crab trap in his native Freeport, in shallow waters off a boat ramp he had frequented for years.
He did so in his flip-flops, his grieving daughter said Monday – a decision that proved fatal as he already had a small nick on his foot.
That scrape quickly became infected, with a deadly flesh-eating bacteria called vibrio that is commonly found in the Gulf.
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Randy Bunch, 66, passed away within a week of becoming infected by the vibrio bacteria, his family said – eventually succumbing to a resulting infection on June 8.
A scrape he had before became infected by the flesh-eating bacteria, which is often found in the Gulf. The infection in Bunch’s leg is seen spreading in the days before his death
‘It was a little tiny nick on the top of his foot,’ Brandy Pendergraft, Bunch’s adult daughter, told KHOU in a sit-down interview.
‘I mean not even an inch, it was tiny.’
‘That’s not how it was supposed to happen,’ she went on, tears in her eyes. ‘He’s supposed to still be here. For a little bit longer.’
The bacteria that killed her father, she said, was vibrio – resulting in a case so severe that Bunch was hooked up to a breathing tube within days.
There here have been 11 reported cases of the oft-deadly infection in Texas just this year alone, as the weather gets hot and the salinity of the state’s bay loses salinity due to rains.
This creates a perfect storm for the bacteria to thrive – a storm that went unnoticed by Bunch and his family before it was too late.
‘It’s literally, like the breath is sucked out of you,’ said Brandy, still reeling from the sequence of days two months later. ‘You wish you could change it and go back.’
The bacteria, meanwhile, causes two types of infections – one that affects digestion and another that affects the skin.
Brandy Pendergraft, Bunch’s adult daughter, spoke to KHOU Monday in a sit-down interview where she warned others of the dangers of fishing with your feet unprotected
The decision proved fatal for Bunch, who is seen here with his family by the bay he had loved so dearly
The latter is what left Bunch’s leg a mess of bruising and blisters in the few days before his death, photos show – only shortly after he began feeling sick a few hours after his crabbing excursion.
When he first started feeling ill, before the infection became visibly apparent Pendergraft recalled first thinking her father was suffering from a heart attack.
‘He called me having extreme pain all along the right side of his body,’ she said Monday.
‘It sounded like heart attack symptoms so I told him you should probably go into an ER and get it checked out.’
Bunch took her advice, but doctors were not immediately able to find anything wrong.
The infection had not made itself known yet – but that would change within the day.
The following morning, after being released, ‘[h]e had completely changed,’ Bunch recalled.
‘He had a 104 fever he was lethargic, talking all disoriented, not making any sense.’
Pictured, the shallow waters where Bunch had been wading when he became infected with the bacteria
There here have been 11 reported cases of the oft-deadly infection this year alone, as the weather gets hot and the salinity of Gulf loses salinity due to rains
Another hospital visit ensued – this time to the Texas Medical Center in Houston.
There, Bunch’s condition quickly continued to deteriorate, and within half a day, he was in dire straits.
‘Less than 12 hours, from walking talking working still doing the things he loved to he was on a ventilator in the ICU and we’re having to make life-changing decisions,’ an emotional Pendergraft said.
After a stream of tests and a great deal of unrest, doctors were still left stumped as to what was causing the previously healthy man’s malady.
That changed when Pendergraft got a look at her dad’s leg, which by that point was beginning to show signs of inflammation – signs that were quickly spreading all over Bunch’s body
‘I saw his foot and was like, ‘Oh, gosh. Could this be the flesh-eating bacteria? The vibrio?” Pendergraft recalled of the realization.
Doctors soon discovered that she was right, but by then, it was already too late.
‘The blisters were taking over his whole body,’ his daughter said. ‘It was spreading. Just like a fire.’
Bunch, seen here with his daughter a few years ago, died within a week of stepping into the water, she said
‘All we have left are things,’ his daughter said, before airing a stern warning. ‘Memories. We’ll never be the same from this’
Bunch died within days, and within a week of stepping into the water.
‘All we have left are things,’ Pendergraft said, before airing a stern warning. ‘Memories. We’ll never be the same from this.’
‘It’s real,’ she went on of the dangers brought by bacteria like vibrio. ‘It will get you. It will get anybody.’
Citing how the now-12 cases seen this year comes as a ten-fold increase from last, she urged officials to do more in airing words of caution to those going into the water.
‘You don’t see a lot of signs posted,’ she explained. ‘You might see a few here and there but it’s not as prevalent as it should be.
‘I want more awareness for people who aren’t from here, who vacation here,’ she added.
‘Yes we want the tourists and we want people to enjoy it but as a state we have to be doing more, for our locals too.’
Bunch is survived by his spouse Dawn Perkins, his two adult daughters, as well as several stepchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
‘An avid outdoorsman, Randy found peace and joy in nature,’ his obituary said. ‘He will be deeply missed.’
