What started as a routine camping trip in the Colorado wilderness turned into an unimaginable medical nightmare for 40-year-old Max Armstrong.

A split-second accident with a hot skillet would ultimately change his life forever, leading to a harrowing battle with a deadly infection that none of his camping buddies could have predicted.
The Moment Everything Changed

It was supposed to be just another hunting trip with friends in Kiowa, Colorado. As Max prepared dinner for the group, he accidentally grabbed a hot skillet wrong while cooking pasta.
“I could feel it burning as I moved it to the table,” he recalls, “but I didn’t want to drop it.” Like many outdoor enthusiasts, Max was no stranger to minor injuries and didn’t think twice about the small burn on his thumb.

But this seemingly insignificant incident was about to spiral into something far more serious.
Following standard camping first aid protocol, Max cleaned the burn and wrapped it with a bandage.
As an experienced outdoorsman who had dealt with countless scrapes and cuts before, he thought that would be the end of it.
“I didn’t think much of it as I have gotten burns, scrapes, and cuts from living in the outdoors and being outdoors my whole life,” he explains.

What Max didn’t know was that a dangerous strep A infection had already begun its silent invasion through that tiny burn on his thumb.
The Terrifying Turn
Two days into the camping trip, the first warning signs appeared. Max’s left leg began to swell mysteriously, though he initially dismissed it as a possible ankle injury he hadn’t noticed. But things quickly went from concerning to critical. His toenails started turning an alarming shade of purple, and the swelling continued to worsen.

By December 7, the situation had become dire enough that one of Max’s friends insisted on taking him to the hospital.
By the time he reached AdventHealth Parker in Colorado, the original burn on his thumb had transformed into something nightmarish. “It had turned black and looked like it was eating away at my thumb,” Max describes.
Racing Against Time
In the emergency room, doctors watched in alarm as Max’s condition deteriorated rapidly before their eyes.
His eyes began rolling back in his head, and he started speaking incoherently – classic signs of severe sepsis.
Within hours, medical teams had placed him in an induced coma and transferred him to AdventHealth Porter in Denver for specialized care.
For six terrifying days, Max’s family waited, unsure if he would ever wake up. Doctors prepared them for the worst, warning that survival wasn’t guaranteed.
A Life-Changing Awakening
When Max finally regained consciousness on December 13, he was greeted by the relieved cheers of his family.

But the battle wasn’t over. The sepsis had ravaged his body, particularly his feet and legs. Doctors delivered the devastating news: amputation of both legs was the only option for survival.
“Initially when I woke up, I thought my legs were still there,” Max recalls of the post-surgery moment. “I felt down my leg and realized that they weren’t there.”
The Road Forward
Today, Max faces a new reality from his wheelchair, working intensively on building his upper body strength at Sky Ridge Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation.
His shoulder and triceps muscles have become his “lifeline” for mobility.
Despite the life-altering outcome, Max’s story serves as a crucial reminder about how quickly a minor injury can become life-threatening under the right circumstances.
His experience highlights the importance of taking even small injuries seriously, particularly in outdoor settings where bacteria can easily enter wounds.
It’s a sobering warning that sometimes the smallest accidents can have the most profound consequences.
Editor’s Note:
This article was sourced from first-hand accounts and medical details provided by Max Armstrong and his experience at AdventHealth Parker, AdventHealth Porter, and Sky Ridge Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation facilities in Colorado.