Fellow and Research Physicist, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Adjoint Professor of Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder
Fellow, JILA, joint institute of NIST and CU-Boulder

Good morning. We thank the Denver-area media for being respectful of our family's privacy in our difficult times. Today we are very happy to discuss with the media our experiences of the last few months. After today, however, we do not plan to make any further public comments about my illness. I will likely remain available to discuss science, teaching, good books or baseball.

Here is a brief summary of what happened to me: On October 24, 2004, I came down with what I thought were flu symptoms: fever and a sense of malaise. On October 25, I developed an aching pain in my shoulder. The pain steadily got worse, and on October 27, I was referred to the emergency room at Boulder Community Hospital. There I was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis (NF), and I underwent operations to cut away infected flesh, including amputation of my left arm and shoulder. However, even so, the infection continued to spread, and I was very near death. In the afternoon of October 28, I was airlifted to the Burn Intensive Care Unit at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver. Two more operations removed more skin, muscle and subcutaneous fat from large areas of my left torso.

Eventually these wounds were covered up with skin grafts. I spent seven weeks at University Hospital, before returning home in mid-December. Since then I have been undergoing rehabilitation and physical therapy with the help of visiting nurses and therapists and as an outpatient at Kaiser Permanente. I will need to have daily physical therapy for about another 12 months to ensure that my grafts continue to heal normally. I am back at work part-time and anticipate being able to work full-time again in a few months.

In late November, I emerged from a three-week coma to find myself breathing through a tracheotomy tube, lying in an intensive care unit, and, most shocking, missing an arm and shoulder. It seemed like a real catastrophe. I have since discovered that in fact losing an arm is more an inconvenience than a catastrophe. I have already returned to a very full life with my family, and when my skin grafts are fully healed, I expect things will be more or less back to normal.

The physicians tell me I'm very lucky to have survived this illness. I surely would not have survived had I not received wonderful medical care from a great many talented people. Celeste and I wish to thank the staff at Boulder Community Hospital and at the Burn ICU at University Hospital. These people saved my life. Thanks also to staff at the rehab unit at University Hospital, and to my visiting nurses and therapists, and to the good folks at Kaiser Permanente.

Our friends, neighbors and family have stood by us with invaluable advice and support, including meals, house repairs, shopping and so on. We are so very grateful. I thank my colleagues at CU and at NIST, and my administrative assistant, who have covered many professional responsibilities for me while I have been on sick leave. I thank the professors who are doing my teaching this semester, and my students and postdocs who carried on the research so capably. My mother dropped everything to stay with us for two months and help my wife and children through a difficult time.

My wife, Celeste, took on each challenge as it came, with unlimited energy, intelligence and compassion. I owe her everything. Celeste and my daughters were, and are, my inspiration to live. The physicians tell me I'm lucky to be alive, and I am much inclined to agree with them.

Celeste and I are happy to answer questions now.

Additional information about necrotizing fasciitis is available from the Centers for
Disease Control at: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/groupastreptococcal_g.htm
and from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001443.htm