A British holidaymaker died after going swimming in the sea in Turkey where he picked up an extremely rare flesh-eating bacteria that doctors were unable to stop from spreading despite amputating his leg twice. Phillip Maile, 65, from Worthing, West Sussex, was diagnosed with a deadly skin infection called necrotising fasciitis while holidaying in Oludeniz, Turkey, with his wife, Vanessa, in September 2022. His leg started quickly turning black and blue a few days after going swimming in the Mediterranean despite his wound being dressed in a waterproof bandage and being told that salt water would be “beneficial”.
The father-of-three was rushed to hospital on September 9 where, over the next five weeks, doctors attempted to prevent the infection from spreading by cleaning his wound and amputating his leg above the knee and then at the hip. Despite their efforts, Phillip sadly passed away on October 13 2022. His daughter Charlotte, 32, plans on running the Abingdon marathon later this year to help raise money for the Lee Spark NF Foundation, which aims to raise awareness about Necrotising Faciitis and support those whose lives have been affected by it.
“Of course, when you’re in that situation you cling to the smallest pieces of hope that you possibly can and when they get taken away from you and you are already at the absolute depths of despair, you just go completely numb,” Charlotte told PA Real Life. “I do not want people to be absolutely terrified of going in t.