What started as a small cut has left a Victorian dad fighting for life with a flesh-eating bacteria, his family says.
Two weeks ago, Jeff Beck thought he had the flu. A day later, he was undergoing emergency surgery and doctors discovered he had necrotising fasciitis.
Health experts believe the potentially deadly flesh-eating bacteria is caused by microscopic bugs commonly found on the body.
It gets under the skin through open wounds or small cuts before destroying fat and muscle.
"This was caused simply from a small cut on his finger which he did at work - something that happens almost daily when you are doing physical labour," Mr Beck's daughter Stephanie wrote on a GoFundMe page.
"Jeff has so far had a quarter of his torso removed to cut out the dead tissue.
"They are now giving him hyperbaric chamber treatments twice a day to help stop the infection spreading and to also treat his large open wound."
Mr Beck was placed in an induced coma and underwent multiple surgeries but was improving by the day at Melbourne's The Alfred Hospital , Stephanie said.
"I went and sat with Dad last night and he could respond to my questions by blinking," she wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
"He would obviously be very scared and confused waking up as he will have no idea what has happened to him - the last time he was awake he thought he just had the flu.
"Nurses say he is absolutely smashing it."
Mr Beck's family, from Moe, are hoping to raise money for treatment and accommodation costs.
