In early October 2015, tight end Daniel Fells was trying to play through an ankle injury in an effort to help the New York Giants return to the playoffs for the first time since their Super Bowl run in 2011.
However, Fells’ life would change in an instant when his chronic ankle injury turned out to be a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection. That type of infection, known as MRSA, is largely resistant to antibiotics.
It took seven surgeries to get Fells’ infection under control. At one point, doctors informed him that amputation may be required.
“The doctors said if this doesn’t work, we’re going to have to either amputate and … hopefully it’s not too late,” Fells told Newsday. “It was getting darker and darker.”
Fells believed he could fight through it but acknowledged the fever had gotten progressively worse and that one of the treatments nearly ended his life.
“As football players, your mindset is, ‘I can come back from this.’ But every day that passed, the fever was getting worse,” Fells said. “It went from 102 to 103 to 104, and then the thermometer was showing error. I was off the charts with my fever. They were trying to get the infection under control, day after day, trying different antibiotics known to kill MRSA.
“My kidneys and my liver shut down.”
After various attempts at treatment and countless surgeries, Fells was told only one Hail Mary remained.
“There was a combination of antibiotics that was working, but I was metabolizing it so fast that my body wasn’t giving the antibiotics enough time to do what they were supposed to do,” he said. “So the only solution they came up with was giving me an ungodly amount.”
Doctors had feared the infection had reached Fells’ heart, but it stopped at his lungs. Although they were able to save Fells’ leg, his football career was over. And somewhat strangely, the source of the tight end’s infection was never able to be traced.
Four years removed from that harrowing battle, Fells has teamed up with former San Francisco 49ers nose tackle Ian Williams, who had his career cut short by a staph infection, to endorse SilvaClean, an antimicrobial product used to clean laundry and prevent the spread of disease.
“Everyone said it was over, but I took everything with a grain of salt,” said Fells. “Throughout my career, people said you couldn’t do something, or doctors said you couldn’t come back fully from an ACL for a year, but it took me seven months. But I ran into this wall. My son saw me as Superman, I saw myself as Superman, and I was trying to be Superman for my family. But I finally found my kryptonite — MRSA.”
Fells and Williams are now hoping to prevent other professional athletes from going through what they have, potentially saving lives in the process.
