A Florida dad is facing amputation a year after he contracted the flesh-eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus, which made his leg swell eight times in size and caused constant pain that he compared to “electric shocks.”

“Life has changed for us drastically,” Janie West wrote in a GoFundMe established to support her husband, Ben West, who was infected with Vibrio during a fishing trip in Port St. Joe, Fla., on Aug. 25, 2025. At the time, “It was the worst pain he’s ever felt & he kept telling me his leg felt to be on fire.”

Ben was originally misdiagnosed with cellulitis and prescribed antibiotics, which “sent this bacteria hay wire,” Janie wrote. She explained, “It began to blister & Benjamin started to decline extremely fast.”

By the next day, he was on “on deaths door step” and on life support, she said.

Since then, Ben continued to struggle with the lasting impacts of the infection.

Vibrio is a bacteria that naturally lives in coastal waters, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of people are sickened by it after eating raw or undercooked shellfish, namely oysters, because the bacteria will “concentrate” inside the shellfish. However, it can cause an infection if a swimmer has an open wound, recent tattoo or piercing.

In Ben’s case, the bacteria entered his system via raw skin on his ankle, caused by boots he’d been wearing to protect himself while in the water, he told NewsNation.

The bacteria can cause flu-like symptoms such as fever, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea. But it’s earned the nickname “flesh-eating bacteria” because it causes the skin around the cut where it enters the body to die.

Since becoming infected with Vibrio, Ben’s struggled with chronic pain and open sores that won’t heal.

“Life has drastically changed for every one of us in our household. The kids have truly adapted a whole lot better than I ever imagined and that alone is so much more than I could ever ask for! We all pitch in to help Ben, put his socks and shoes on, it takes a lot longer for us to get ready to leave the house when going anywhere,” Janie wrote.

“The affected leg is 8x’s the size of the unaffected leg. Ben’s really struggling with accepting this affected leg remaining this large forever,” she wrote. “He says it’s extremely heavy and it sends what feels like electric shocks throughout his leg uncontrollably when he over exerts himself, when the weather changes, when he doesn’t elevate it regularly throughout the day.”

Finally, doctors told Ben that “amputation needs to happen for you to have any quality of life at this point.”

“Ben seems to be taking it all in. He’s so ready to be OUT of so much pain. He’s knows it’s not going to completely go away but the heaviness of the leg and the bandage changing pain will be done and gone for sure!”

And as Janie shared, the couple have one request: “STAY OUT OF THE WATER GUYS! PLEASE!!! Do NOT take the risk, this is a nasty nasty bacteria that’s taking people lives & if not their lives, their limbs…it is NOT worth it I promise & IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU. “

In an update on Aug. 10, Janie wrote that her husband was expected to undergo the amputation in the coming weeks.

She added, “The hospital stay is only 1-2 days after the surgery!!!!! That was great news! Ben’s terrified of having surgery that they’ll try to keep him because he spent 28 days in the hospital when this all happened.”