Man left in coma after tearing bicep at gym wakes up to find he’s lost his arm

A man who suffered a routine injury during a trip to the gym has recalled how the event spiralled into nearly killing him.

Gabe Lieschke was working out in the gym when he suffered a common injury, pulling a bicep after over-exerting himself.

But, rather than taking a few months to recover before getting back to training, the bodybuilding enthusiast caught a terrifying infection that eventually saw his arm amputated.

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Now, speaking on the Young Blood – Men’s Mental Health podcast, Gabe shared his story and admitted that he had even come close to losing his life.

“I tore my bicep in the gym, and had some surgery a couple of days later,” he remembered.

“Two weeks after that I had a postoperative infection called necrotizing fasciitis, which gave me 11 major surgeries during a 10 day coma.”

Listed on the NHS website, necrotizing fasciitis is a rare and life-threatening infection that can occur if a wound becomes infected.

It is recommended that the infection is treated in hospital straight away, and Gabe suggested that delays in his treatment had nearly cost him his life.

“Basically it was touch and go, it was like three days after the surgery, a locum came out and said, ’right off to hospital’, rushed me in and I don’t recall those three days at all, the infection took over and ruined my memory.

“Basically, I was put into a coma, and it was a question or not of whether I was going to live, they just had to keep chopping parts away.

“My dad was calling my friends up saying, ‘it looks like Gabe’s going to die’, it was hot water for quite a while.”

Before the life-changing event, Gabe had been indulging his passion for bodybuilding and he explained how important lifting weights had been for his mental health.

“There was no interest in my life except that, and it was really like a driving force in my life,” he stressed.

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“I had 10 years of training behind me when I tore my bicep… In the year leading up to tearing my bicep I started boxing… I felt so good about myself.”

So, Gabe was unsurprisingly shocked when he saw the state of his new appearance from his hospital bed.

“It was surreal, it didn’t compute, it was like what am I looking at?” He recalled.

But, the fitness fanatic resolved not to let himself be a victim, and has since refocused his efforts on cycling, setting the goal of becoming the best para-cyclist in the world.

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