Patient Stories > Joseph Hansbury

One day before a wrestling tournament, 13-year-old Joseph Hansbury noticed a bump on his right shoulder. It was about the size of a quarter, and looked like a mosquito bite that had been scratched. Soon, Joseph had a fever.  By the time his mother woke him up from a nap to go to the pediatrician's office, his eyes were swollen.

His pediatrician thought Joseph had caught the flu from one of his siblings, but his mother, an ultrasound technologist, suspected an infection. Joseph's condition worsened and he was taken to the local emergency room. At that point, he was too weak to stand.

He was quickly transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. As his mother suspected, he was infected - with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a bacterial infection that is highly resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. In extreme cases MRSA can be fatal.

Joseph's blood pressure had plummeted; he suffered from a pulmonary embolus, a blockage of an artery in the lungs, and he had blood clots in his leg and shoulder and infections in multiple bones and muscles. Joseph spent the next eight days in the Intensive Care Unit, and another 25 days in other wards of the hospital.

He received care from subspecialists representing an array of disciplines - including infectious diseases, orthopedics, hematology and physical and occupational therapy - during his stay at St. Chris.

While the experience was frightening, his parents said they knew that Joseph was in the right place once they saw the excellent care he was receiving.

More than a year later, Joseph has made a full recovery and is back to playing his favorite sports including baseball, football, basketball and wresting. As a precaution he wears a body cover when he wrestles.