Help Gilles get a prosthetic leg and adjust his household

Gilles has always supported the metal scene, it’s time for us to help back.

Here is Gilles’ story:

On Friday January 17th, I was admitted to the Ottawa general hospital after dealing with a cut on my foot that got visibly infected on January 11th and that attempts to heal the infection (regular cleaning, polysporin, dressing etc) proved ineffective and things got worse with discoloration spreading of the infection, decision was taken late on January 16th that I would go and have things checked out the next day.

After being admitted on the 17th, imaging was done around my foot and it was decided to book me into the next available operating room. It was determined that I had Necrotizing fasciitis (i.e. flesh eating disease) and it had spread quite extensively and required the amputation of my left leg half way up my thigh. It was also determined at this time that I had undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes that likely helped with the infection snowballing out of control.

I spent the next 4 days in ICU under 24/7 IV antibiotics and observation to ensure the NF was out of my system and that any other infections were dealt with.

Upon transfer to the orthopedic section of the hospital, work with the physio and occupational therapy teams was started in order to have me be able to function independently after being discharged.

Some of the challenges being faced are retrofitting my living space with things such as grab bars, reorganizing/changing furniture in order to permit being able to navigate around with a walker or wheelchair. Additionally there are the financial challenges related to prosthetics, wheelchair, walker, medications/pain killers etc.

This has been a life altering event and I'm grateful for having survived what has a 100% mortality rate if left untreated (which doctors have told me would have likely been the outcome had I waited another 24-48 hours). I'm even more grateful at how many people have been coming out and offering help and support. That will not be forgotten as I work on Gilles 2.0 while I get over these initial speed bumps.

Don't be like me people, if something is not quite going right, seek professional help. I should have had myself checked out when I was experiencing potential symptoms of diabetes (occasional numbness and loss of feeling in my feet), all this may have been avoided.